


Spirit, Heart and Bone

by lightworms07



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Additional Tags to Be Added, Canon-Typical Violence, Death, Everyone is a background character except for Theo and Liam, Fear, Fluff and Angst, Hallucinations, M/M, Minor cursing, Nightmares, Pain, Post-Canon, Slow Burn, Spirits, Teen Wolf Season 7, Theo Raeken Needs a Hug, WereTigers, amazon warriors, how did i forget fluff and angst, shifting, that's basically the whole story
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-03
Updated: 2018-02-28
Packaged: 2019-03-13 04:25:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 23,837
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13562760
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lightworms07/pseuds/lightworms07
Summary: It had been one month since the Anuk-Ite had been defeated, one month since the hunters had fled from Beacon Hills.Most of Scott's pack had gone off to college, leaving Liam to defend the town.Liam and his pack were given thirty days of peace.But something was coming, a sinister, feral presence, and the wolves of Beacon Hills could do nothing to prevent it.This is basically a Season 7 of Teen Wolf, focused on Thiam, Morey and Nolan (that absolutely no one asked for). Hope you enjoy!!(Characters and world belong, of course, to MTV).





	1. Vulnerability- Theo

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Vulnerability- Susceptible to being wounded or hurt.

_“Theeeeoooooooo.”_

Theo could still hear it, Tara’s voice: the last remnants of his dead sister, the person he loved the most.  
The one that he murdered.  
The rightful owner of the heart that beat in his chest.  
Tara’s voice always seemed to be there, brushing against the edge of Theo’s consciousness, plaguing his dreams and tuning them to nightmares. The taunting lilt to her voice echoed in his mind with each thrum of the heartbeat in his chest.

Sometimes, when Theo’s paranoia got to the better of him, it was like he could feel Tara’s fingers digging into the flesh of his chest. When his imagination ran wild Theo could picture, with horrifying clarity, the matted curls plastered to her forehead with sweat.  
The glazed look of her eyes that did nothing to hide the betrayed, twisted rage reflected there.  
The menacing shape of her lips, the stark contrast of her skin.  
The mangled cavity of her chest, the rotted flesh and the dripping blood.

His nightmares were terrifying, to say the least. And he could do absolutely nothing to prevent them. During the day he could block them out, pretend he hadn’t murdered his only sister in cold blood. But at night, his subconscious mind was stripped of its defenses; at night his mind, the last sanctuary he had, was left as prey.  
After being a predator for so long, that was the worst part of Theo’s torment.

Theo was trying to convince himself that the mask he wore wasn’t his actual self. That his true character was just hiding, lurking in the shadows, waiting for an opportunity to show again.  
His facade of icy indifference could only last for so long; eventually it would crack, shatter into millions of pieces, and Theo would be left vulnerable and exposed.  
When he finally snapped, what would be waiting underneath?  
Theo hated himself for not knowing.

He was supposed to always be in control, always be one step ahead of anyone else’s plans. That one crucial survival tool was what allowed him to divide the McCall pack, to kill the True Alpha. Theo’s manipulative nature, his cunning and wits, could only take him so far. His control was the key to his success, however cruel that success might have been. 

And now that was all lost, only because Theo couldn’t even anchor himself anymore. It was as if he were floating aimlessly, wandering like a lost spirit, except for-  
Liam, of all people.  
Freaking _Liam_ was his anchor.  
Or something like that, at least. 

Theo hadn’t meant for it to happen. The idea just evolved over time: they were together at the Sheriff’s station, the hospital, the zoo. Liam always seemed to be there, and Theo allowed himself to be accustomed to the beta’s presence. That was his biggest mistake.

But Liam always seemed to be the one that saved him. He brought him back from Hell, saved him from the Ghost Riders, pulled Theo from his dreams…  
How could Liam have ever _not_ been Theo’s anchor?  
_Because you manipulated him, killed his Alpha and generally made life hell for his whole pack_ , part of his mind whispered.  
The last time Theo had lost total control was when Liam brought him back from Hell. He was eager to never experience that feeling again. He had been disoriented and confused, trying to figure out why his nightmare had begun in the Dread Doctors’ tunnels instead of the morgue.  
But Liam had pulled Theo back from that too.

And the worst part was that Theo couldn’t forget. He was forced to carry the memories of enjoying the discord he caused. The pleasure of killing Scott would always be in his mind.  
Theo could regret and regret and beg Scott for forgiveness. But his cries had gone unanswered as Tara dragged him straight to Hell, down through the ground, so why would anyone save him now? It was too late for anyone to forgive Theo.  
_Rightfully so_ , he thought.  
He was just a heartless monster anyway.

 

Theo sighed heavily at the familiar sound of a deputy knocking on the window of his truck. Really, this whole situation was getting out of hand. Theo had lost track of the number of times he had been kicked out of whatever vacant lot he parked in. Then he had tried Beacon Hills Preserve. Still no luck. It was like the deputies had a special sensor for homeless people that found obscure places to sleep for the night. 

Theo waved his hand impatiently and slowly climbed out from the back seat. The officer was glaring at him suspiciously. “I’ll leave, it won’t happen again,” Theo mumbled, the lie rolling off his tongue too easily. The deputy gave him one last dirty look, but turned around and got back into his car nonetheless. Theo slid into the driver’s seat sluggishly, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

He checked his reflection in the rearview mirror. He looked… well, homeless. And like a half-zombie that hadn’t slept for days.  
Which was also unfortunately accurate.

The streets were eerily quiet. Every turn Theo took, cars were scarce. The curtains of houses were sealed shut, the lights were off, the sidewalks were empty. The only sounds were of his tires rolling against pavement and the steady beat of his heart. It was utterly wrong. He had spent most of his childhood in the Dread Doctors’ lab, adjusting to the sounds of hissing steam and the whirring of machines. And even before then, his house had been full of sound and energy. But Theo wasn’t about to let himself access those memories.

It had been almost a month since the hunters had surrendered and abandoned Beacon Hills. Days and days of unnerving peace, but there was something off-kilter about it. As if every inhabitant of Beacon Hills was holding their breath, waiting for the next threat to overtake the town.  
For another supernatural force to ruin their lives. 

Theo had been running and running for as long as he could remember. He had longed for a moment of peace for years. But, now that he had finally gotten it, all Theo could think about was the wrongness in the atmosphere. It put him on edge. Theo hated feeling this vulnerable.

Most of the McCall pack had left, whether it was for college or for work. Theo should have been going with them, but instead he was here, hopelessly pining after his anchor.  
Liam probably didn't even know he was still here.

Scott's pack must have assumed that they were safe. Theo was prepared to prove all of them wrong.  
One thing was for sure: something was coming, and Theo was not excited to find out what exactly would be approaching Beacon Hills next.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I promise the rest of the story won't be an internal Theo monologue (sorry to disappoint everyone). All of the following chapters will actually have dialogue, and they'll be mostly switching POVs between Theo and Liam (but I might add in some more chapter from the POV of minor characters, depending on where I go with this).
> 
> Feedback is always always always welcome, and thank you for reading!!!


	2. Anticipation- Liam

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anticipation- Expectation or hope- an advanced realization.

There were some days, too many days, when Liam hated being a werewolf.  
Sure, the superhuman strength, the claws and the fangs, were great.   
But this was one of those nights where everything around Liam was just too loud.

He could hear water trickling through the pipes, his mother pacing in her office, tires rolling along the pavement. Who could possibly be out this late? Liam would have gotten up to check, but maybe if he lay in his bed long enough he could fall back to sleep…

Liam had almost managed to drift off when he heard someone creeping around in his yard. The soft sound of footsteps against the grass were barely audible, and Liam wouldn’t have heard them at all if he were actually human.   
Damn his werewolf senses.

With a frustrated growl Liam yanked the covers off his bed and stalked to the window. Whoever decided to walk around in his yard this early in the morning was just downright creepy, and Liam was going to make them pay with some well-thrown shoes.  
Maybe even some biology textbooks.

Liam threw up the shade covering the pane of glass. He even went as far as to open the window and stick his head outside, peering down at the ground below. But there was no one there. Liam stomped to the other window, just to make sure he wasn’t hearing things, and threw open the shade again-  
To see a black tiger standing in his yard.

Liam stumbled back with a yelp that he quickly stifled with his hand. “What the hell,” he muttered, and cautiously crept back to the window. And- okay, yeah, there was a freaking tiger sitting in front of his house, staring up at him with unblinking eyes. They were bright blue, tinted with silver, and the look scared the hell out of Liam.   
“Okay,” he said to himself. “There’s a tiger in my front yard.” He ran back to the window; the ginormous cat was still watching him. “I need to call Scott.”

Liam practically ran to his nightstand, where his phone sat charging. He pulled it away from the cord, and went straight to his contacts to call Scott. Sure, he wasn’t even in Beacon Hills, but Scott would have to want to know about tigers in California, right? 

He scrolled too far down his list of contacts, and when he scrolled back up his thumb landed on Theo’s name. Liam paused for a second, and frowned in confusion. Had Theo gone to college with the rest of their pack? Did he even have enough education to go to college? Was he homeschooled by the Dread Doctors? Liam couldn’t help but laugh at the thought, but then he focused his attention back to the tiger that was still sitting in his yard.

Liam ran his hand through his hair, selected Theo’s name, and hit the call button. Hopefully Theo wasn’t in the middle of something, but then again, most people weren’t out and about at three in the morning. 

The phone rang once, twice.  
To Liam’s endless shock, Theo picked up on the third ring.  
“Hello?” he asked, voice gravelly from sleep. So, yeah, Theo was sleeping when Liam called. He should’ve felt bad, but his priority was the tiger.  
Which was _still_ there.   
“Liam?” Theo asked. “Why are you calling me?”  
The guy sounded half-asleep, and he kind of took pity on him. Liam cleared his throat. “Right,” he said, flopping back down on his bed. “So, sorry to bother you, but there’s kind of a tiger in my bed?”

Theo was silent for a heartbeat. “Liam,” he said, voice strangely calm. “Why the hell is there a tiger in your bed? Are you hallucinating?”  
“Wait!” Liam yelled. “Okay, that is not what I meant to say. There’s a tiger in my yard, not my bed, I was just sitting on my bed as I was walking and I said the wrong thing- also, are tigers native to California? Is this like a thing I didn’t know about?”  
“ _Liam_ ,” Theo said, and his voice was thoroughly exasperated. “I’m coming over, give me a minute. And tigers are _not_ native to California! You should know that.”  
Liam nodded, but then he realized Theo couldn’t actually see him. “Okay,” he said. “My address is-”  
But Theo had already hung up. 

Liam was pacing in his room when he heard Theo’s truck pull up. Then he was racing down the stairs, listening to see if his mom was awake. He could hear footsteps on the floor above him, so Liam quietly pulled the front door open and slipped outside.

Theo was walking toward him, hands in his pockets, looking entirely unruffled. For a moment Liam could only look at him. He hadn’t seen Theo in almost a month, and somehow his mental image of the guy was that Theo would be identical to when Liam last saw him.

And Theo was relatively the same, perhaps a bit paler, the circles under his eyes a bit darker. But there was something… _detached_ about his demeanor, like he was just waking up from a dream. Up close Liam could see that Theo was bleary-eyed with exhaustion. Liam frowned; what was Theo doing all night?

“The tiger?” Theo prompted. Liam nodded. “Right around here,” he said, and led Theo to the side of his house. He whipped his head around to glare at Liam. “I told you,” he snapped. “You were hallucinating.”   
Liam opened his mouth indignantly; the tiger was gone. Theo started to walk away, but Liam grabbed his wrist to stop him from leaving. Theo froze and turned around so quickly Liam was afraid his neck would snap. 

“There- there _was_ a tiger,” Liam said quickly, trying to build up his argument before Theo could leave. “It was black with silver stripes and bright blue eyes. The thing was staring at me through the window.”

Theo was staring at him with a guarded expression. Or, that, is, more guarded than he usually looked. God, Theo had so many walls built around himself, Liam wondered if he had ever let anyone in.  
If Theo would _want_ to let anyone in.

“I can come back tomorrow,” Theo yawned, stretching like a cat. “Goodnight, Liam. Call me if you have any more scary dreams about black tigers,” he snickered.  
Liam only had time to scowl before Theo was gone.

 

Liam felt like a zombie.  
He’d gotten minimal sleep last night before the whole tiger-stalking-thing happened. Before he dragged Theo to his house at three o’clock in the morning. And he certainly hadn’t gotten any sleep after that.  
Unless he’d dreamed the whole thing.  
Liam hoped that was the case, if only so that he wouldn’t have to face Theo again. 

He plopped his food tray on the table and slumped onto the bench. Mason lifted his head to give Liam a weird look. “You look terrible,” he remarked by way of greeting.  
“Love you too, Mase,” Liam grumbled. “I blame the stalker tiger.”

Corey looked up from the book he borrowed from Mason. “Stalker tigers?” he said. “I think Scott’s ‘protect Beacon Hills’ orders are getting to your head.”  
Liam shook his head and leaned forward. “It wasn’t a dream,” he said earnestly. “You can ask Theo, he was there last night-” Liam was cut off when Mason choked on his milk. Corey thumped him on the back, and Mason gave Liam an incredulous stare through watery eyes.

“You called _Theo_? The same Theo that killed Scott, that worked for the Dread Doctors? Who, do I need to remind you, killed Corey?”  
Liam sighed. “He also saved me from the Ghost Riders and took Gabe’s pain as he was dying. Theo’s different now, Mase.” Liam wasn’t exactly sure why he was defending Theo, and Corey and Mason didn’t seem to be either.  
“Stalker tigers and defending murderers,” Mason said, shaking his head. “I thought Beacon Hills was done with being weird.”

At the end of the school day, Liam walked outside to find Theo leaning against his truck. Liam would have ignored him and kept walking, but Theo’s was staring straight at him. Liam fought the urge to run away.  
Yeah, last night definitely happened.

“See any tigers on your way to school?” Theo asked lightly. Liam growled at him. “Shut up,” he said. “I’m not going crazy.”   
Theo nodded. “I know. We’re going to Deaton.”  
“Why are you going to Deaton?” came Corey’s voice. He eyed Theo warily as him and Mason approached from the other side of the car.   
“Either to get his opinion on stalker tigers that are after Liam, or to diagnose Liam’s hallucinations.” Theo smirked at Liam. “I’m going with the latter.” 

Liam flipped him off and begrudgingly climbed into the passenger seat of Theo’s truck. He refused to make eye contact with Theo, so that he wouldn’t have to see the smirk that was undoubtedly plastered on his stupid face.  
Why did it have to be _Theo_ Liam called last night?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I honestly love the contrast between writing from Theo and Liam's point of views. I feel like the stuff about emotions and such are more suited for Theo, while Liam is all stumbling over conversation and freaking out about tigers in his yard. I hope this chapter was good, the dynamic between Theo and Liam is honestly one of my favorite things I've ever done for fanfiction. It's still not quite where I'd like it to be, but there will be a lot of Thiam banter in the next chapter.
> 
> Hope you're enjoying the story, and let me know what you think/ any predictions :D


	3. Discovery- Theo

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Discovery- to gain knowledge or insight of something.

It shouldn’t have made Theo so irrationally angry that Liam was in his truck right now.   
Hell, he had allowed to Liam to ride with him. But the fact that Liam was sitting there, biting his lip anxiously, was infuriating.   
It was completely unfair that, even with the worry rolling off Liam in waves, his presence was still calming to Theo.   
The fact that Liam could calm him down, and Theo couldn’t do the same for him, made him want to scream. 

The silence in the truck was making him crazy.   
They had almost made it to the clinic when Theo finally broke the quiet floating between them.   
“We’re almost there, Dunbar,” he said. “You can stop freaking out in a minute.” Liam didn’t turn his head, and chose to glare at the windshield instead.   
“Would you be calm if there were freaking _tigers_ watching you at night?” he snapped back. Theo shrugged.

In truth, Theo should have been afraid. He certainly had been last night when Liam called him out of the blue. His first instinct had been to get to Liam as soon as possible, so he had driven to Liam’s house without a second thought.  
It should have occurred to Theo that he shouldn’t have Liam’s address memorized.  
He was trying to convince himself it was just a precaution.   
“I couldn’t care less about this whole thing. My only concern is for your sanity,” Theo said casually. _I was worried about you_ was what he longed to say.  
Not that he would ever speak those thoughts out loud.

Liam scoffed. “What were you doing out that late anyway?” he asked. Theo rolled his eyes. “Sleeping,” he said. “Like most normal people do at night.”  
It wasn’t a lie, but his words weren’t the total truth either.  
Not that Liam needed to know that.  
Liam looked suspicious, but then Theo parked the truck in front of the animal clinic and hopped out, denying Liam his chance to respond. Which Theo was too grateful for.

Mason and Corey were already waiting with Deaton when he and Liam walked in. The atmosphere of the back room was tense; maybe it was because Theo was present, or the idea that Liam was seeing tigers that weren’t really there.  
 _Likely the former_ , he thought bitterly.

“So,” Deaton said. “Mason has been trying to explain the situation to me.” Liam nodded from his position next to Theo. “There was this tiger,” he said. “It had black fur and silver stripes. The thing was staring at me with bluish-silver eyes.” Deaton was studying him carefully. His expression was calm, but Theo could tell he was thinking and assessing Liam’s words. 

“What do you know?” Theo asked. Now everyone’s eyes were on him. Theo kept his gaze on the doctor, waiting for an answer.   
“There is some folklore associated with these creatures,” he admitted. “Weretigers are one of the scarcer myths, one I thought to exist only in legends.”

_Weretigers_. Theo mulled it over. With the existence of werewolves, werecoyotes and werejaguars, he shouldn’t have been surprised. But this was even more bizarre, if only because tigers weren’t even native to the Americas.  
Mason seemed to agree.

“No, thank you,” Mason said quickly. “Is anyone else willing to just forget about this? Haven’t we dealt with enough people trying to screw up Beacon Hills?”  
As Mason spoke, his gaze shifted, almost out of habit, to Theo. The guy wasn’t wrong; Theo had come in, deceived them all, and ripped apart their precious pack. 

“If there are weretigers creeping around Beacon Hills, it’s not something I’m going to ignore,” Liam said, and then, addressing Deaton, asked “are these things dangerous?”  
“I would assume so,” Deaton said. “It’s been a long time since I’ve crossed paths with this myth. You should check at the high school library. See if there’s anything you can find.”

Corey stood up from his position against the table. “Mason and I can look at my house,” he said. “I got some new books about mythology.”  
“We’re going to need it,” Mason muttered.  
Theo smirked at Liam. “I guess I’m stuck with you again,” he said. “At least we know you’re not crazy.”  
“I knew I wasn’t crazy this whole time,” Liam snapped. “ _You_ were the one that didn’t want to believe there were weretigers in Beacon Hills.” 

Theo turned and walked out without waiting for Liam, an unspoken retort hovering on the tip of his tongue.  
 _I spent an hour searching the woods near your house to make sure you were safe before I left_.  
Not that Liam needed to know that particular bit of information.

 

Being in the Beacon Hills High School library brought back memories of killing Scott, something Theo wasn’t anxious to relive. Nevertheless he went straight to the mythology section, scanning the spines of books for one that might hold something about weretigers. Liam was standing further down the row, already thumbing through a heavy volume about folklore.

“Anything?” Theo asked. Liam shook his head. “Could you read this whole thing in thirty seconds?” he demanded. Theo walked over and plucked the book from his hands. “It’s called a table of contents, dumbass,” he chided. Liam rolled his eyes and disappeared into the next row.

The next thirty minutes were spent fruitlessly looking for something, anything, about weretigers. Their pile of discarded books on the table was quickly growing. Liam had long since gotten frustrated, and Theo was starting to get annoyed as well.

“There is nothing here about weretigers!” Liam whisper-yelled. “Nothing! Soon I’m going to side with Mason and ditch this whole idea.”  
“You’re the alpha now. What would Scott say if he heard you were giving up a day after you discovered this whole problem?” Theo taunted.  
Really, provoking Liam was just too much fun.

It was just too effective. Within seconds Liam was standing in his face, glaring at him. “I’m not an alpha,” he snapped. Theo raised his eyebrows. “Someone has to be,” he pointed out. “It’s an opportunity most people wouldn’t deny. Why would you?”  
Theo, being one of those people, knew all too well what _that_ was like.

Liam chose not to answer his last question. “Like you,” he said.  
“Like me,” Theo agreed.  
A pointed cough sounded from over Liam’s shoulder, and Theo glanced up to see a librarian glaring at them. Theo gave the woman an easy smile and glanced back to Liam, whose head was twisted in her direction. Theo wished he could have seen Liam’s face before he stomped off back into the shelves.  
It had been Liam, after all, who’d decided to stand that close.

Theo went back to randomly pulling books off the shelves when a particular volume caught his eye. It was leather-bound with an old, worn look to it. He curiously pulled the book out to examine it, and froze when he saw the contents of the page.

It was a journal, pages filled with cramped writing. Theo craned his neck to read the tiny font. It was observations about various mythical creatures, all those that had visited Beacon Hills. There was information about werewolves, chimeras, werecoyotes, kitsune, even the Anuk-Ite. Theo flipped to a page toward the end, and sure enough, it held information about weretigers. Theo sucked in a breath. “Liam?” he called.

Liam stuck his head around the corner and frowned when he saw the leather journal in Theo’s grip. “What is that?” he asked, turning his head to read the contents of the page. Theo was once again enveloped in Liam’s scent, grass and cologne and something that might have been sweat. It was a strange combination, but the smell was familiar.  
Too familiar.  
Theo hated himself for noticing it.

“Theo,” Liam said. “What exactly do the tigers have to do with Amazon warriors?”  
Theo turned to look at Liam, then glanced back down at the page. There was something written in the margins, the cramped words almost illegible. Theo practically stuck his nose in the book to read the phrase scribbled there.

“Amazon warriors, weretigers, full shift, spirits. That’s all I can read,” Theo said. Liam pulled the book from his hands, and folded the top corner down to mark the page. In the process he managed to drop the book, but Theo trapped the front cover between his forefinger and thumb before it could hit the floor.  
“Werewolf reflexes always come in handy,” Theo snarked. Liam flipped him off and grabbed the book back. Theo was about to respond when he saw the name on the inside cover. His blood ran cold. “Liam,” he whispered, and pointed at the name. Liam’s eyes went wide.

There, written in the same handwriting, were the words _Gerard Argent_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this chapter turned out to be a little longer than expected, but hopefully no one's complaining about that...  
> I was planning to publish this chapter earlier today, but sometimes I struggle with writing dialogue (which this had a lot of) so it wound up being a little late.  
> I have school and stuff this coming week so the next update might be a few days late.  
> Also I apologize that Deaton is really out of character, I wrote that scene like ten times but I really couldn't get it right (sorry friends).  
> I have no idea how to add links to notes (this site is hella confusing) but my tumblr is @lightworm-scones07 if you wanna come over and chat about Teen Wolf and request stuff.
> 
> Hope you're enjoying the story, thanks for reading and putting up with my long rants in the notes


	4. Insight- Liam

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They make some interesting discoveries about what exactly has come to Beacon Hills.  
> But the question still remains- why are the weretigers here, and what do they want?

Liam and Theo had managed to beat his friends to the clinic this time. Theo had been driving at speeds that were guaranteed to be illegal in Beacon Hills.  
Liam was grateful they hadn’t been caught by a police cruiser on their drive over.

“If I didn’t know better, I’d say you were the one freaking out now,” Liam said. “Or maybe you’re just trying to make yourself feel better about being afraid of a few weretigers,” Theo grinned. Liam gave the speedometer on the dashboard a pointed glance. “I think it hit eighty a few miles back,” he said. 

Theo huffed out an annoyed breath. “I think this is something the others need to see. What are the odds that Gerard’s old notebook wound up in our school’s library?”  
“It’s Beacon Hills. What do you expect?”  
Theo flipped the book over and studied the worn backing. “Nothing,” he frowned. “No barcode sticker. No title. This book should not have been on the shelf.”

Mason and Corey pulled up in Mason’s car, and before Liam or Theo could get out of his truck, the two were hurrying over to them.  
“We need to get inside,” Mason said. “We found something on the drive to Corey’s house. Bad.”  
Theo tilted his head curiously. “How bad?” he asked. “Liam and I came across something too.”  
Technically, Liam hadn’t helped at all. The only thing he’d done was invade Theo’s personal space and receive a scolding from the librarian because of it.  
Yeah, he was eager to get rid of _that_ memory.

“Just come in,” Mason said impatiently. “This’s even got Deaton worried.”  
The others practically ran to the back room, and Liam hurried to catch up. Theo stopped so abruptly Liam stumbled and almost ran into him, but righted himself when Theo turned around with a smirk. Liam pushed past him and froze when he saw what Deaton was examining on the table.  
It was a wolf, and it was very clearly dead.

The sight gave Liam unfortunate flashbacks to the day when he and Scott had found a dead pack of wolves in the forest. Theo stepped forward and waved his hand at the dead animal.  
“Wasn’t the last time this happened the Anuk-Ite?” he said slowly. Liam had been thinking the same. Deaton nodded, eyebrows furrowed, as he took a blood test from the wolf.

“This is different,” Corey piped up from his position next to Mason. “This was the only one we could find. When the Anuk-Ite was here the whole pack just tore each other apart.”  
Mason nodded his agreement. “It was just lying dead in the middle of the road,” he said.  
Deaton turned back to the examination table with a small glass dish. He placed the tray on the tabletop; inside was a strange silvery substance, somewhere between liquid and solid. It held a blue tint, which reminded Liam too much of the tiger’s eyes.  
He doubted it was a coincidence.

“Is that- _mercury_?” Mason demanded. “I am not dealing with Dread Doctors again. Not happening. Aren’t they supposed to be dead?”  
“Not mercury,” Theo said, and there was something off about his tone. “This has nothing to do with the Dread Doctors.”

Liam didn’t know when he had reached the point where he was able to read Theo. It was something that shouldn’t be possible. But his first instinct was to think that Theo was hiding something.  
Maybe he’d pester him about it later.  
Or just punch him.  
Either would be effective.

“These claw marks are too thin to have been from a wolf,” Deaton was saying, examining the wolf’s mauled abdomen.  
“Then something like a tiger?” Corey asked, and Theo siddled closer to Liam as they spoke. He glanced up at him. “Why are you staring at me like that?” Theo murmured. Liam held his gaze. “You know something,” he said. “What is it?”

Theo looked away, a surprising show of weakness. “I don’t know anything,” he said. If there was a tic in his heartbeat from the obvious lie, Liam couldn’t detect it.  
Why did Theo have to be so good at controlling his emotions?  
A sizzling noise broke his train of thought.

Theo whipped his head up to stare at the glass tray holding the sample from the wolf’s blood. His eyes went wide. Deaton, Mason and Corey also hurried over to the table. For a moment they all stood transfixed.  
Then the glass dish began to _melt_.

They all stepped back simultaneously, except for Theo, who stood watching the process. Liam grabbed his shoulder and tried to pull him back, but he shrugged his hand off.  
“What do you think I’m going to do, eat it?” he scoffed. “I’m not an idiot.”  
But when the metal of the table started to corrode away under the substance, Theo allowed himself to be jerked back. 

Corey turned to Deaton. “Do you know what this is?” he asked the doctor. And then Deaton uttered the words Liam never thought he’d hear.  
“I’ve never seen anything like this.”

Liam glanced back at Theo, waiting for an incredulous look or a jab of some sort. But he was just staring at the wolf, eyes unfocused, mind clearing going a million miles an hour. Liam focused on his chemosignals, trying to figure out what Theo was thinking. It had been so long since he had done this, the last time being when he and Stiles had found Theo standing on the bridge in the preserve. It felt wrong, like Liam was intruding on something, but he searched anyway.

Theo’s heartbeat was slow and calm, but all Liam could smell was his fear.  
What exactly was Theo afraid of?  
“On that note,” Mason said, sounding thoroughly freaked out. “What did you find in the library?”  
Theo blinked and looked up. He slowly pulled the journal out of his pocket and handed it to Deaton.

“This was on the shelf,” he said. “It’s Gerard Argent’s.”  
The only sound in the room was Deaton thumbing through the pages of the book. Mason and Corey seemed to be shocked into silence.  
“There’s information about every supernatural predator that came to Beacon Hills in there,” Theo said. “Where did he get all this information? How could he have known so much about the Dread Doctors?”

“What about the Dread Doctors is relevant to any of this?” Liam interrupted. “You should be worrying about why he already has information on weretigers.” Theo didn’t respond. Deaton cleared his throat and gave them a patronizing look. “I don’t know how this book wound up in your high school library,” he said. “Yet, nonetheless, you should read through it. See what you can find. Then we can reassess the situation.”

Theo nodded and snatched the book back. “We’ll do that,” he said, and turned and walked out the door. Liam said his goodbyes to Mason and Corey, thanked Deaton, and hurried out to the parking lot. In his truck Theo was feverishly rifling through the notebook. He glanced up, startled, when Liam climbed in the passenger’s seat. “I thought you’d ride with your friends,” he said, and there was a strange undertone to his voice. Liam shrugged. “You have the book,” he said. “Why wouldn’t I?”

Theo said nothing as he buckled his seatbelt and turned the key in the ignition. The sun was just starting to set, but the roads were still light enough. Theo turned the radio on, and music floated through the truck.  
“So,” Liam said. “Would you like to share what you know about these weretigers?” he asked. Theo growled at him. “I don’t know anything,” he said, sounding exasperated.  
“Bullshit,” Liam snapped. “You were afraid of something at the clinic. What was it?”  
“I’m not _afraid_ of anything,” Theo said angrily. Liam wasn’t impressed. He shut the radio off and crossed his arms, waiting in silence for Theo to continue.

“It’s nothing,” Theo muttered. His eyes flicked over to Liam for a split second; then they were back on the road.  
“Well, clearly something’s up with you,” Liam snapped. “You can trust me.”  
Maybe Liam was seeing things, but he thought he saw Theo’s eyes widen in shock. But then the strange expression on his face was gone and it looked like a witty retort of some shape or form perched on the tip of his tongue. 

“It doesn’t even really matter,” he said. “Just- in Gerard’s notebook, he said something about Amazon warriors, and I-” Theo raked his fingers through his hair in frustration. “They just remind me of the Skinwalkers,” he blurted out.  
_That_ certainly hadn’t been what Liam was expecting. “Why?” Liam started to ask, but then he realized he already knew the answer to that question. He could remember, too well, what had happened that day.

_The Skinwalkers have a message for you, Theo_ , Kira had said. _Your sister wants to see you_.  
Then Theo had been dragged into the ground, begging and pleading with Scott, by his dead sister.  
He came back from hell… well, different was the only way Liam could describe him.  
_There’s nothing worse than what I’ve been through_ , Theo had said to him, looking halfway to insanity after he was brought back. By Liam. And he had never stopped to think about what exactly had happened to Theo while he was in hell.  
Had never cared enough to ask.  
Why was Liam so ashamed of that now?

Theo also seemed to be lost in his thoughts. Liam studied him carefully, picking up on minute details that he had never noticed before. The dark circles under his eyes. The way he bit his lip when he was thinking. The long strands of hair pushed back from his face.  
“Done staring at me, dumbass?” Theo asked.  
Liam was grateful it was dark enough that Theo couldn’t see the way he was blushing. “Don’t call me that,” he snapped. Theo shrugged. “I’ll come up with a good nickname for you eventually,” he said.  
“Or you could just call me Liam?” he asked. Theo laughed, and the sound made Liam want to smile as well.  
They had almost made it to Liam’s house when a loud thump sounded from the back of the truck. Instantly Theo was slamming on the breaks.  
“What the hell?” he asked. They looked at each other for a moment, and scrambled out of the truck. 

Theo’s truck was parked right next to the preserve. Liam though he saw movement in the trees, but he followed Theo around the side of the vehicle anyway.  
“Nothing,” Theo said. “You heard it too, right?”  
Liam nodded his confirmation and peered back into the trees.  
When a pair of blue eyes flashed in the forest, he jumped back.

Theo immediately shoved Liam behind him, and Liam was squished between his back and the side of the truck. “Get off me,” he growled. “I know how to protect myself, asshole.” Theo ignored him and continued his silent staring contest with the weretiger.  
When the weretiger began to shift, Theo’s claws slid out. 

A human figure emerged from behind a tree as the weretiger finished its shift. They were carrying a bundle of some sort of cloth that, when unraveled, appeared to be something like fur. Liam’s eyes shifted to bright yellow and then he could see a cape of wolf pellets sewn together. The weretiger pulled the cape around her shoulders, and flashed her silver-blue eyes at Liam.

The girl had silver stripes, in the shape of slash marks, cutting across her face in jagged, sharp lines. A braided crown of sorts was tied around her light cropped hair.  
Theo snarled at the weretiger. She stared back at him, unblinking, face expressionless. Theo’s heart was pounding in Liam’s ears, beating faster than his own. Eventually the weretiger- or Amazon warrior, whichever, turned around and retreated back in the trees.

Theo exhaled shakily. Liam wondered why he was so shaken by this; Theo was always infuriatingly calm, wits ridiculously sharp even in the most dangerous situations. Perhaps it had something to do with their similarity to the Skinwalkers. Liam sighed, and followed Theo back into the truck. Theo was, again, flipping through the pages of the journal. He read through the page, eyes shifting over the words, before he chucked the book at the dashboard.  
“Great,” Theo said. “Gerard was right, however he came across this information. Weretigers that can shift into Amazons. This is just perfect.”  
Liam nodded. “We need to call Scott.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First things first: If you'd like, tell me in the comments what nickname you'd like Theo to give Liam (and what Liam could eventually come up with to call Theo :P).  
> Also: I put in the tags that all the characters are background except for Theo and Liam. But I do promise Nolan and Alec will come in eventually.
> 
> I know this chapter was pretty slow, which I apologize for, but I just needed a way to get that information in to start setting up the main plot and such.  
> In the next chapter I can 200% guarantee some Thiam angst. But, with angst comes even more fluff, which I managed to incorporate even though they aren't actually dating (yet).  
> So most of the following chapters will be just Theo and Liam, which people hopefully aren't complaining about.
> 
> THANK YOU for all the comments; I get email notifications and your feedback always makes me so happy.
> 
> Almost finished with my in-the-notes rant (it's going to become tradition okay) but I am planning at least two more Thiam fics after this one is finished. Spirit, Heart and Bone will proably be 40K-50K words (!!!) so yay.
> 
> Tumblr is @lightworm-scones07 if you wanna hang :D
> 
> (ALSO Theo will always be an over-protective puppy about his anchor. Fight me on this.)


	5. Pain- Theo

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Weretigers are vandals, Liam blushes a lot, and Theo finds an interesting nickname for his anchor.

“We’re not calling Scott,” Theo said. Liam crossed his arms. “He needs to know about this, Theo,” he argued. Of course Liam was running to his alpha to solve this problem. “Scott put you in charge of Beacon Hills,” Theo goaded him. His goal was to change the subject, and it was working; Liam growled at Theo, and his eyes flashed yellow. “You’re going to run to him after dealing with a few weretigers for a day? Is that what Scott had in mind when he chose you to protect Beacon Hills?”

“I’m not saying he’s going to come back and help us! I just think he should know.”  
“We’re not calling Scott,” Theo said firmly.  
“Why?” Liam demanded. “Give me one good reason why we shouldn’t.” Theo almost wanted to laugh.  
_I don’t want to raise questions about why I’m still in Beacon Hills_.  
_Scott will think I’m trying to murder you if he knows I’m helping you figure this out_.  
_I don’t want to have to leave you_.

“Because the less people who know about this, the less people wind up getting hurt,” was his answer. Liam looked surprised. “What?” Theo asked him.  
“I just… didn’t think you’d be concerned about how many people get hurt,” Liam said quickly.  
Theo tried not to let that comment sting. A few months ago, he would have agreed with Liam. Then again, a few months ago, Theo wouldn’t even be having a conversation like this with Liam. He would have still been rampaging around trying to tear apart Scott’s pack.  
_Regret regret regret_.  
How could no one see that he wasn’t like that anymore?

He opened the door on the driver’s side, and Liam climbed into the seat next to his.  
“We can try to figure this out in the morning,” Theo said. “I’ll drop you at your house.”  
But, as he drove, Theo couldn’t help but feel like they were being watched.  
Liam confirmed his suspicions not even a minute later.  
“Stop the car,” Liam said suddenly. Theo pulled over and braked. “Why?” he asked. “Can you hear something?”  
He listened for the sounds of any weretigers around them, but his hearing was still infuriatingly weak. 

“Look,” Liam said, pointing to the trees again. And, of course, there was another weretiger watching them there.  
This whole situation was _really_ starting to piss Theo off.  
He jumped out of the truck and slammed the door shut. “Don’t follow me,” he said to Liam. “Stay in the truck.”  
If something happened to Liam, Theo didn’t know what he’d do.

Liam’s disgruntled face was the last thing he saw before he shifted to his wolf form. Theo ignored the burning pain that spread through his body as the sounds and smells of the forest gradually grew stronger. He perked his ears up, watching and waiting. The weretiger’s eyes flashed at him in the darkness, and that was all the signal Theo needed to start the chase. 

It was exhilarating, chasing the weretiger through the trees. Each of his senses were enhanced; he could feel the brittle layer of leaves crunching beneath his paws, taste the wind rushing past him, smell the pine and oak of the trees he dodged. From far away he could hear Liam getting out of the truck and following Theo into the trees.  
_Dammit, Liam_ , he thought. _I told you to stay put_.  
Of course he didn’t listen.

Theo ran and ran, tracking the weretiger only by smell; it had long since vanished. But he continued on, determined to kill or at least injure one of the tigers. Theo could hear the rush of a river, and he barely stopped to turn onto the bridge as he continued following the scent-  
_The bridge_.

Theo stopped abruptly, sliding rather painfully into the post of the bridge. He knew he had to keep going, or he would lose track of the weretiger. But all he could do was stand frozen, staring down at the swirling water of the river. Theo wondered if this was what Tara had felt like, staring up at her brother as she died, slumped into the frigid water of the river.  
While he watched.  
He _watched_ as Tara died, had stood there as the life slowly went out of his sister’s eyes. All for power. All because of the gifts the Dread Doctors had promised.  
_Regret regret regret_.  
Theo sat watching the surface of the water, trying to push away the memories that were swirling around his mind, beating against the edges of his brain like a relentless tide.  
And when the reflection of a weretiger appeared behind him, Theo only had time to turn around before the animal was upon him.

The weretiger was big, so much larger up close. The thing was easily twice Theo’s size, and it had him pinned easily. Theo fought, trying to kick the animal away, but from the angle he was lying on the wood it was impossible to shove the tiger off him.  
All he could do was howl in pain when the weretiger raked its sharp claws across his front leg.  
Theo expected to immediately feel the wound healing, the flesh knitting back together. But blood continued to pour from the slash marks, and the burning feeling in his leg only intensified.

The weretiger growled at him and, to Theo’s endless surprise, began to slink away. He managed to stand and took a staggering step toward the tiger, lashing out with his uninjured leg.  
His claws went straight through the weretiger’s body.  
The weretiger bared its teeth at him in a feline grin. Then it leapt gracefully over the handrail of the bridge and ran along top the water of the river. With one last glance toward him, it vanished into thin air. 

All Theo could do was stare, mouth gaping open, as he shifted back to his human form. The pain increased by tenfold now that he wasn’t a wolf. He studied the claw marks on his forearm, as if by force of will he could make himself heal. Theo flicked his claws out and dug them into his non-injured arm. Normally the pain would trigger his healing. It should have triggered his healing. But the wounds still stubbornly bled.  
When Theo heard Liam coming, he covered his injured arm with his other. There was no need for Liam to worry.  
Not that he would anyway. 

When Liam got close enough to see Theo he froze. Even with the distance separating them Theo could see Liam blushing profusely.  
“I told you to stay in the truck,” Theo said lazily, unable to help the smug smile spreading across his face as Liam determinedly kept his eyes on Theo’s. 

“You- you never said-“ Liam began jerkily.  
“That my clothes don’t magically appear when I shift back to my human form? I guess I overestimated what you knew about shifting.”  
“Shut up.”  
“Whatever you say, Littlewolf.”  
“Don’t call me that! How was I supposed to know you’d be naked?” Liam demanded. 

Theo just raised his eyebrows. “Your face looks like it’s about to explode,” he commented. Liam scowled. “I’m leaving without you,” he said. Theo laughed softly and pulled himself up against the side of the bridge. The second his hand left the wood he stumbled, suddenly dizzy. Theo glared down at his wounds. Why the _hell_ weren’t they healing?

Liam turned around, a frown turning the corners of his lips down, as if he had seen Theo almost fall on his face. “Why do you smell like blood?” Liam asked. Theo stared at him. “It’s just a scratch,” he said. “The wounds are already healing.” Theo wasn’t quite sure why he didn’t tell Liam the truth. He wanted to figure out why he wasn’t healing, why the weretiger was incorporeal, how it managed to corner him on the bridge…  
Then he would tell Liam.  
Maybe.

“Okay,” Liam said suspiciously. “Did you manage to take the weretiger down?”  
“No,” he said carefully. “It got away before I could attack.” Which wouldn’t have happened if Theo hadn’t freaked out.

“Can you at least shift back until we get to your truck?” Liam asked in a rush. “I don’t want anyone to see us walking out of the woods when you’re naked.”  
“Of course not, Littlewolf,” Theo said briskly. “We wouldn’t want people to get the wrong idea about what we were doing here.” Liam’s face was red again. “That’s not even a clever name,” Liam snapped. Theo pointedly looked Liam up and down. “You’re like four feet tall. Would you rather me call you Baby Alpha? Shorty? Fairy dust?”  
“Call me Liam, you asshole.”  
“Or I could just call you Tinker Bell-”  
Liam fist rammed straight into his jaw before he could dodge the blow.

Theo staggered back, slamming against the handrail of the bridge for the second time that night. He tried to ignore the shockwaves of pain pulsing in his arm.  
“If you call me Tinker Bell,” Liam snarled, standing in his face. “I will gladly rip off your legs to make sure you’re shorter than me.”  
“Feisty,” Theo taunted, enjoying this conversation just a bit too much.  
But Liam glanced down, eyes wandering just a bit too far, and came to rest on his injured arm. His eyebrows furrowed in confusion.  
“You said you were healing,” Liam accused him. Theo shrugged. “It is. I’m fine, Tinker Bell.”  
Theo shifted and trotted off, limping only slightly, before Liam could punch him again.

 

While Theo was busy putting his clothes back on for Liam’s sake, Liam was studying the hood of Theo’s truck. “Were you going for an edgy look, or did a weretiger vandalize your truck?” Liam asked. Theo jerked the sleeve of his sweatshirt over his injured arm and stalked over to stand next to Liam. And, sure enough, there were scratches on the paint that clearly came from a weretiger’s claws.  
“Dammit,” Theo grumbled. Of course the weretiger would only be corporeal when it was attacking him or his truck. 

Liam was flipping through the pages of the journal, squinting at the pages as if he could read the handwriting in the low light of the truck.  
“You could wait until tomorrow, when it’s actually light enough to read,” Theo suggested. “Like most normal people do.” He couldn’t see Liam’s expression in the darkness, but he could easily picture the scowl that would be on his face. Liam placed the book down and slumped in his seat, legs bumping against the bag wedged under the dashboard. Liam looked down. “What is this?” he asked, holding up the bag. “Nothing,” Theo snapped. It was none of Liam’s business; he didn’t need to know anything about Theo’s life.

When Liam started to unzip it, Theo reached over and attempted to grab the bag from his hands. But as he moved Theo accidentally jerked the steering wheel, almost sending the truck directly into a tree.  
“What the hell! Are you trying to get us killed?”  
“Just put it down,” Theo snapped, braking as he pulled into Liam’s driveway. He threw his seatbelt off and tried to pry the bag out of Liam’s grip. But he had already opened it, and from the streetlight next to them Liam could clearly see the folded clothes, the toothbrush, the rolled-up blanket.

“What is this?” Liam asked, sounding confused and...hurt?  
“Nothing,” Theo said loudly. “I told you that.”  
“You’re leaving Beacon Hills?”  
That certainly wasn’t what Theo was expecting. “Uh, no?”  
_I wouldn’t leave my anchor behind, idiot_.  
But it was more than that, wasn’t it?  
Nope, Theo was not going there.

“Then tell me,” Liam said, meeting Theo’s gaze. “I’m not getting out of this truck until you tell me.”  
Theo had never wanted to punch someone more in his life.  
“I live here,” he said quickly. In any other situation, Theo might have laughed at the dumbstruck expression on Liam’s face.  
“This is my house, you idiot,” he said. “I think I’d know if you lived in my house.” Theo’s urge to punch him only grew.  
“ _You’re_ the idiot,” Theo snapped. “I mean in here. This is where I live. Are you deaf?”

It took Liam about a half-second to process what Theo had said, and he should have been impressed. “Oh,” Liam said dumbly. “ _Oh_.”  
Theo pressed the button to unlock the doors with utmost subtlety. “The door’s that way,” he said, refusing to let himself flush with embarrassment. Really, the way Liam was gawking at him was ridiculous. Liam slowly returned the bag to its place on the floor and awkwardly got out of the truck.  
“Thanks for the ride,” he said. Theo looked forward, jaw clenched. “No problem,” he said through gritted teeth. Why did Liam have to make this so humiliating?

“Theo,” Liam said, just as he was about to close the door. “If you wanted to- uh, if you ever needed to… staywithmeyoucould,” he finished.  
And that made everything so much worse. 

Liam must have been able to immediately tell he said the wrong thing by the cold look on Theo’s face.  
“Thanks, but no thanks,” he said, in an emotionless voice that surprised even himself. Liam crossed his arms. “Fine,” he huffed. “I was trying to be nice, but if you’d rather live in your truck than go ahead.”  
Theo laughed humorlessly. “You were trying to be nice? Have you forgotten who you’re talking to, Dunbar?”  
Liam scowled. “Whatever,” he said childishly. “Guess you’d rather be homeless.”

Theo growled at him. “I don’t want to be your- your _charity case_!” he yelled. “Just leave.”  
Liam slammed the door shut. “Fine!” he shouted back, and stomped up the driveway toward his house. Theo didn’t even wait for him to take five steps before he was backing out of the driveway and tearing down the street.  
It was infuriating; Liam had been talking down to him, and yet Theo still couldn’t hate him for it.  
He couldn’t ever hate Liam for anything.

Theo pulled into the abandoned lot of an old warehouse, turning off his headlights as he yanked the key out of the ignition. No patrol car would find him tonight, if he was lucky.  
Which rarely ever happened.  
With a heavy sigh Theo climbed into the backseat, flopping onto the cool polyester as he slowly drifted off to sleep.

“Theeeeoooooooo.”  
Theo bolted upright from his position in the backseat, neck twinging painfully from the awkward position he must have slept in. He jerked his head around, trying to find the source of the voice.  
Of Tara’s voice.  
Theo thought he could see the silhouette of someone standing in the darkness, watching him. His heart was thrumming almost painfully in his chest.  
“Who’s there?” he whispered, voice croaky.  
But when he blinked and peered back into the night, the figure was gone.

Theo slowly slumped back down in the seat. His mind must have been playing tricks on him, stuck somewhere between dreams and consciousness.  
And as he slowly fell back to sleep, it was as if he could hear another heartbeat thumping in the silence around him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, there wound up being not as much angst or fluff in this chapter as I planned. But in the next chapter I promise there will be actual fluff. I also drafted a future chapter, and it is absolutely the most angsty thing I've ever written. So the fluff and angst are coming. 
> 
> Also, I have no idea where the Tinker Bell nickname came from. I was just typing, and that happened to be what I wrote... maybe I'm he only one that finds it funny? Let me know if you'd love to see Theo call Liam Tinker Bell :3
> 
> On another random note, let me tell you about this theory of mine: we know that, after Theo came back from hell, the powers he stole from other chimeras was gone. He was returned to “classic Theo.” But, as I rewatched the season 6 Theo scenes ten thousand times (he’s my favorite character okay) I noticed the way he shifted. Liam just flicked his wrists and his claws came out; he bared his teeth and he has his fangs and glowing eyes. But Theo always threw back his head, growled, etc when he shifted. My headcanon is that it causes Theo pain to shift, even when he doesn’t shift completely. Maybe it’s crazy, but that’s what I saw so I incorporated that here.
> 
> Endless gratitude for the people that take the time to comment, you're wonderful <3
> 
> tumblr-- @lightworm-scones07 (maybe one day I'll actually figure out how to use links).
> 
> Hope you enjoyed the chapter!


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jenna Geyer sees some interesting things.  
> I mean, they'll only get weirder from there.

Liam still couldn’t quite believe that Theo was homeless, of all things.  
It was a strange concept to think about; Theo was one of those people that he never considered to actually have a life outside of the supernatural. The realization that Theo was alone, and living in his _truck_ , made him irrationally angry. But, now that he thought about it, Theo being homeless kind of made sense. In a totally messed up way. Did he even have parents? Any family besides his dead sister?  
Liam hated it.

Liam was supposed to be asleep. He had been thinking about this for hours now. Why did it bother Liam so much, the idea that Theo was living alone? He was _Theo_. The same guy that killed his alpha. The chimera that manipulated him into almost killing Scott, the one that tore apart his pack. Liam should have killed Theo; he should be rotting in Hell with his sister.  
But Theo had changed. Liam knew that.  
And maybe Liam hated himself a little bit for trusting Theo so much. But there was something so right about it, being around Theo.  
Nope, Liam was not going there. He didn’t want to know why Theo had become so important to him.

The minutes ticked by, and Liam lay in the darkness. His mind was running in circles, trying to figure out what the weretigers could possibly be doing in Beacon Hills. But then his thoughts would drift back to Theo; he had the journal, and therefore held all their information about the Amazons and weretigers. The urge to find Theo was just too strong. Liam needed his answers.  
Without a second thought, Liam was hopping out of bed and pulling his socks and shoes on.

Even as he stepped through the front door and into the cool night, Liam was already trying to figure out how to track Theo’s scent. There was nothing of Theo’s he could use, and running around Beacon Hills searching for him was a terrible idea.  
Then it occurred to Liam that he had a phone, and he also had Theo’s number.

For the sake of not calling Theo in the middle of the night again, Liam opened a text conversation and typed out _You awake?_  
Then he felt stupid for asking that; of course Theo would be asleep. But he had immediately come to Liam’s house when there was a weretiger watching him...  
But why would Theo even want to respond, after what had happened earlier?

He didn’t quite know why he had asked Theo to live with him, of all things. Liam had just… reacted too quickly to think through his offer. Did he want Theo to live with him? Of course not.  
Never. If Scott or anyone else from his pack came back to find Theo in his house, they’d slit Theo’s throat. Or maybe they’d murder him instead.  
Still, no one deserved to live in their truck. Which was the only reason why Liam had asked: he was sympathetic. He felt terrible that Theo was living like that.  
_I don’t want to be your charity case_ , Theo had said.  
Well, Liam could still try again.  
When Liam’s phone buzzed, he looked down to see Theo’s message flash across the screen: _Yes_.

_Very friendly_ , Liam thought. He called Theo nonetheless and waited as the phone rang.  
“Are there weretigers stalking you again?” Theo asked, voice scratchy. The connection wasn’t great, but Liam thought Theo’s voice sounded off.  
“No,” he said carefully. “I was just thinking about the journal.”  
Theo gave an almost inaudible sniff. Liam frowned.  
“I was just reading it,” Theo said.  
“Are you crying?” Liam blurted out before he could stop himself. Theo went completely silent. Liam thought he could detect the faint sound of a river rushing along rocks, but he could have been hearing things.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Theo snapped.  
Liam decided to let it go. “Anything about weretigers?”  
“Too much,” Theo sighed. “The Amazons are definitely shifters, but they supposedly aren’t affected by the lunar cycle.”  
“Assuming, of course, that Gerard didn’t write a bunch of random stuff in his journal,” Liam pointed out. “Why are we trusting his information again?”

Theo ignored him and continued reading. “Listen to this,” he said. “The weretiger possesses an abnormal amount of self-control that extends beyond the powers of a lycanthrope. Not only can it fully shift at will, the weretiger can transform into a spirit-like incorporeal form.”  
Liam let that sink in. “Theo,” he said. “How are we supposed to kill something that isn’t even solid?”  
“That’s what I’m trying to figure out,” he said. Liam leaned against the porch railing. “Anything about why the Amazons or whatever are here?”  
“Nothing,” Theo said frustratedly. “The only thing here about what they do is-” he broke off with a loud cough. Liam frowned. “Theo?” he asked. “Are you okay?”  
“Fine,” he coughed.  
“You don’t sound fine,” he said. “Where are you?”  
He coughed again. “The bridge,” Theo whispered.

Liam didn’t wasten any time contemplating why Theo would be at the bridge; he was already running back inside the house to get his mom’s keys. He made sure the call was still connected as he pulled out of the driveway. “What happened?” he asked Theo. “You said you healed from the weretiger.”  
“Guess it was...worse than I thought,” Theo panted.  
“Dammit, Theo,” Liam snapped. “Why didn’t you _say_ anything?”  
Theo hesitated. “It doesn’t matter,” he said. “Why do you even care?”  
Liam wished he could answer that question himself.

“Wouldn’t you care if I was dying on a bridge?” was his response. Theo huffed. “That’s not an answer,” he said.  
Liam pulled up into the same place Stiles had parked so long ago, that night when he decided to stalk Theo and figure out exactly who he was. And all Theo had been doing was leaving a flower for his dead sister.  
And now he was hurt, alone in the cold, on that same bridge.  
It creeped Liam out.

“If I fall in a hole again, I am never coming to this preserve again,” Liam muttered to himself. He thought he could hear Theo laugh weakly from over the phone. Then the bridge was up ahead and Liam could see Theo, curled up against the flimsy wooden handrail. He ended the call and rushed over to Theo. His breath caught in his throat as he took in the sight in front of him.  
Theo was shaking, arm curled protectively against his chest. His eyes were glazed with pain, and sweat gathered on his forehead. Liam’s eyes were drawn to the bloodsoaked sleeve of his sweatshirt. There was so much blood. Too much.  
As gently as he could Liam pulled Theo’s sleeves up and gently unraveled the bandages wrapped around his forearm. The gashes evidently came from a weretiger’s claws; they weren’t deep, but there was a blue tint around the cuts.

“You idiot,” Liam snapped. “We’re going to Deaton.”  
“Already went,” Theo rasped. Liam gaped at him. “And he left you like this?” he demanded. “He had nothing to say about this?”  
Theo looked up at him, hazel eyes foggy. “I didn’t actually talk to him,” Theo admitted. “I snuck in to steal some bandages.” Liam rolled his eyes. “Of course,” he said. “You can never do anything to take care of yourself, can you?”  
“I’m not a child,” Theo huffed. “Besides, I did wrap them. Which shouldn’t have needed to happened, because I should have healed hours ago!”

“Calm down,” Liam said. “If you refuse to talk to Deaton, we can go to Melissa.”  
“Let’s not,” Theo said, somehow still managing to be snarky. “She wouldn’t help me anyway.”  
“Stop assuming the worst of people!” Liam snapped. “I’m at least taking you back to my house.”  
Theo opened his mouth to protest, but Liam cut him off before he could begin speaking. “Don’t,” Liam said. “Dammit, I’m not letting you sleep in your truck. It’s cold and you’re hurt and I don’t want you to be attacked.” Theo glared at him. Liam held his gaze, continuing their silent staring contest, until Theo stared down at his lap.  
“Whatever you say, Tinker Bell,” he said mockingly, but his voice held an edge of exhaustion that made it impossible to take him seriously. 

Liam offered a hand to Theo, who accepted it with his good arm. As soon as he was on his feet, Theo stumbled and almost knocked Liam over. He wrapped an arm around Theo’s waist. “I still think we should go to Deaton,” he said. “You can’t even walk.”  
“Shut up, Tinker Bell,” Theo grumbled, but his head was leaning against Liam’s shoulder as if he couldn’t even summon the energy to stand properly.  
“See?” Liam said. “You’re practically hanging on me like a big, fluffy teddy bear-” he stopped. Theo’s death glare had only intensified. “What?” he asked. Liam grinned evilly.  
“I’m calling you Teddy,” he announced. Liam looked over just in time to see Theo’s eyes widen. “Absolutely not,” he said. Liam only laughed. “ _Liam_ ,” Theo groaned. “You are _not_ calling me Teddy.”  
“Everytime you call me Tinker Bell, I’m saying Teddy. Unless you can manage to stop calling me dumb nicknames, I’ll do the same for you.”

 

Theo was silent for the remainder of their walk back to the car. Or, more like Liam dragging Theo to the car. Theo was starting to worry Liam; his eyelids were fluttering, and he seemed to be drifting in and out of consciousness. Liam opened the passenger door and dumped Theo in the car, which he kind of felt bad about. Theo sat up sluggishly with an indignant huff. Moments later Liam was pulling out of the clearing and driving back toward his house. Theo was slumped against the door, head leaning on the cold glass of the window.  
“Almost there,” Liam said quietly. “How do you want to go about doing this?”  
“Get a blowtorch or something,” Theo muttered. “If the silver stuff’s anything like wolfsbane, that should help.”  
Liam bit his lip. “Okay,” he said.

When they pulled up to his house Liam got out and gently pulled Theo out of the car. “My parents are home,” he whispered. “Try not to make too much noise.” He led Theo to the bathroom down the hall and sat him down on the edge of the bathtub. “I’ll be back,” he said, and crept into the kitchen in search of a lighter. Liam grabbed the one from the drawer and pulled a towel from the hall closet as he made his way back to the bathroom. He placed both items on the edge of the sink and searched through the cabinet for bandages and tape. Theo raised a skeptical eyebrow. “You’re prepared,” he noted. Liam shrugged awkwardly. “My step-dad’s a doctor,” he said. “What did you expect?”

Theo was watching him as he sat on the edge of the tub. “This is going to hurt,” Liam warned. Theo gave a half-shrug. “I know,” he said. “Do it.” He didn’t sound afraid, which Liam had to admire him for. Most people would run away screaming at the idea of having their arm burned. Liam took a deep breath and flicked the lighter open, then directed the flame at the cuts on Theo’s forearm. The effects were instantaneous; Theo’s other hand came up to grab Liam’s own hand. His grip was painfully tight, but Liam allowed him to crush his fingers. Theo growled, and from upstairs Liam could hear the floor creak. They both froze. 

Liam shut the lighter off has they waited, listening for any other indication that one of his parents was awake. Theo slowly looked down at their intertwined fingers and pulled his hand away. “Sorry,” Theo whispered.  
“Don’t worry about it,” he whispered back. Liam pressed the towel against the cuts, which were bleeding again. But the silver-blue tint to Theo’s skin seemed to have been burned away, so Liam considered it an improvement. He reached over for the roll of gauze and ripped off a piece; Theo offered his arm, and Liam slowly wound the fabric around the cuts.  
Then he heard footsteps from the living room, and he froze again.

“Liam?” his mother asked, and he turned to see her standing in the doorway. Her eyes raked over the sight of them: the gauze, the bloodied towel, the lighter.  
“Liam,” she said again. “Would you care to explain what’s going on here?”  
“I-” Liam began, but he shut his mouth. How was he supposed to explain to his mom that there were weretigers running around Beacon Hills when she didn’t even know the supernatural existed? He looked over at Theo helplessly, whose expression was like that of a deer caught in headlights.  
“There was- there was an accident in the woods,” Theo said carefully, and Liam had never seen him look so nervous. “I see,” his mom said. “Is there anything I can help with?”  
Liam blinked at her in surprise. “You’re okay with having a random stranger in the bathroom in the middle of the night?” he asked quickly.  
_Now_ his mother looked concerned.  
“I mean, of course _I_ know him,” Liam amended. “This is Teddy.”

Liam didn’t need to turn around to see that Theo was giving him a death glare. “I’m Theo,” he said. “ _Not_ Teddy.”  
His mom nodded, looking slightly confused. “Just let me know what I can do,” she said, and started backing out of the doorway.  
“Mom,” Liam said, and she popped her head back in. “Can Theo stay with us for awhile?”  
Theo stiffened beside him. Liam ignored the movement, keeping his eyes trained on his mom’s face. “Honey, this is something we need to talk about,” she said. Liam nodded. “Just for tonight then?” he asked. She smiled at Theo. “Of course,” his mom said. “I’ll make sure the guest room is set up.”

Once his mom had left Theo grabbed Liam’s wrist again. “What the hell?” he yelled, but his voice was still weak. “I told you I didn’t want to stay with you!”  
“Just for the night,” Liam said, trying to keep himself calm. “You need it, Theo.”  
“And since when did you have the right to decide what I need?”  
“You were dying,” Liam snapped. “Dying, Theo! And I’m not going to sit back and watch you live in your truck after you were attacked by a weretiger and almost died because of it!”  
Theo seemed stunned for a moment. “You still never told me why you care so much about my safety,” Theo said in a low voice.  
“That’s because I don’t know,” Liam admitted. “I shouldn’t care. But I do.”  
Theo looked at him as if he had five heads. Then he held out his arm to Liam again, who realized he had never actually finished wrapping Theo’s arm. Liam carefully rewound the gauze, securing it at the crook of his elbow with tape. 

“Thanks,” Theo said. Liam nodded as he tucked the supplies back in the cabinet. The towel he left in the bathtub. Theo followed him into the hall and up the stairs. Liam walked into the room across from his and flicked the light on. “Is this okay?” he asked tentatively. Theo surveyed the small room; there was a bed, nightstand, dresser and desk.  
“It’s more than okay,” Theo said quietly. “Thank you.”  
Theo had never sounded so sincere. Liam slowly walked out and pulled the door closed, leaving Theo standing alone in the middle of the room. For a moment he waited outside the door; he wanted to ask Theo why he’d been crying before, even if he was almost certain of the answer. 

With a sigh he crossed the hall. Liam knew something was wrong before he even stepped through his own bedroom door.  
A flip of the light switch revealed a weretiger, looking only half-solid, standing in the center of the room.  
And before he could make any move to warn Theo, there was an Amazon standing in front of him, holding a long, delicate blade on either side of his neck.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to JannaLionheart for the amazing nickname; Teddy is such a perfect nickname to piss Theo off, and I'm so excited that Liam gets to call him that.
> 
> Here's my summary for this chapter:  
> Theo and Liam need to actually admit to themselves that they care about each other.  
> Theo needs to actually accept Liam's help.  
> There was some super romantic hand holding going on there (haha not).  
> And the Amazons really enjoy stalking them both, for mysterious reasons (or maybe they just really like Liam's bedroom... whichever you'd like to go for).
> 
> Today is the first day of my four-day weekend, so if everything goes well I could maaaaaaybe have two chapters posted by Tuesday. 
> 
> Thank you as always for the comments, and hope you liked the chapter.
> 
> tumblr- @lightworm-scones07 (I'm making a promise to myself to figure out how to use links by the next chapter).


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Theo is a sappy, romantic poet when he's sleep deprived.  
> There's also toast, bickering and demonology.  
> What more could you ask for?

Theo must be dreaming.  
At any moment Theo knew he would wake up in the back of his truck, in a random parking lot, with the last moments of this dream lingering in his mind. It would be the first dream he’d had in a long time that wasn’t a nightmare. One that wasn’t about his mistakes and failures.  
No, this was the one dream that Theo never wanted to wake up from.  
And, yet, this whole thing was real. Theo was laying in a bed, in an actual house, a mere fifteen feet away from his anchor. He should have fallen asleep instantly. He wanted to.  
But, as always, Tara was keeping him awake.

It wasn’t the usual nightmares. Not exactly. This was the feeling that she was watching him, even though he was awake. Theo knew he was being paranoid; Tara was dead, and she would exist in his nightmares for a long time. He could do nothing about _that_. But she couldn’t actually be here. Earlier in the parking lot, Theo knew someone had been watching him. Tara’s voice was in his head, but the silhouette watching him from afar was not a hallucination. That he was sure of. Whether it was an Amazon or some other unfriendly stalker, Theo didn’t want to know.

So he had gotten up and driven to the bridge, a place where he could drown in his thoughts without fear of interruption. He could cry, he could beg Tara’s forgiveness, in complete solitude.  
Or so he’d thought.  
Theo was planning to ignore the text that came in. But when he saw it was Liam, he just couldn’t. Liam had become one of those people that Theo would always be running to save. And he hated that feeling of vulnerability. Theo had never before thought about sacrificing himself for another. His life had been constantly running, always looking out only for himself, for years. His own agenda was his only focus.  
Now Theo was becoming weak, so reliant on Liam and the strength he brought.  
It was something he should have escaped the first moment Sheriff Stilinski let him out of the holding cell.  
But Liam made him want to stay.

And then, after that, the stupid injuries from the weretiger just had to start causing even more problems. He didn’t know why it had hit him so suddenly; one moment he was fine, the next there was a searing pain in his arm that made his head pound and his blood heat. The rest was a blur: Liam’s mom, staying in his house, the bathroom and the lighter. His mind was clear now, and Theo gladly took the opportunity to savor the memories of the past few hours. Liam had helped him in more ways than he knew, and for that Theo was grateful.  
Not that he’d ever tell Liam that. 

Theo sighed heavily as he rolled onto his side, facing the closed bedroom door. Liam was showing him kindness, even if he despised the evident pity. Theo was sure Liam didn’t actually want him to stay. In the morning he would talk to Liam again, and clarify exactly what his offer entailed.  
Theo closed his eyes and tried to stop thinking about Liam. But he still couldn’t help himself from trying to listen to the sounds of him sleeping in the other room.  
What he didn’t expect to hear was Liam’s elevated heartbeat and his shallow, panicked breaths.

He was wide-awake in an instant. Theo silently walked over to the door and cracked it open.  
“Liam?” he whispered into the dark hall. There was no response. A sense of dread creeping over him, Theo slowly turned the doorknob and pushed open the door to Liam’s room.  
The sight in front of him was so absurd, Theo could almost laugh. There was a _weretiger_ standing in Liam’s room, teeth bared in a silent snarl. And by the door… by the door-  
Liam stood, eyes flashing yellow, trapped between two double-edged blades of an Amazon warrior.

Theo growled at the woman before he knew what he was doing. His claws and fangs slid out, and Theo almost didn’t feel the pain the shift brought.  
“Get away from him,” Theo said in a low voice, not knowing or caring if the warrior could understand him or not. Liam turned his head slightly, but the Amazon growled at him and pressed the blades tighter against his throat. Theo could see blood beading on the edges of the knife. The metallic tang of Liam’s blood in the air made Theo want to rip her apart.  
“I told you to _get away from him_!” Theo yelled, and stepped forward to rake his claws across her chest.  
Only to have her easily deflect the blow with her blade and send him stumbling backward.

Theo stared, aghast. He had never been overpowered that easily, by any supernatural being he had faced. The Amazon had just… shoved him away, no effort needed.  
What the _hell_ were they up against?  
The woman whispered something under her breath in a language he couldn’t understand. Her weapons were encased in an electric blue glow as she spoke. The blades themselves were impressive: a cloth-wrapped handle in the middle separated two thin metal blades, both honed to razor-sharp double edges. As the warrior raised her arms higher Theo could see two symbols tattooed on the insides of her wrists: a pentagram on one, an octagram on the other.

Liam’s own claws slowly slid out. As she stopped chanting, Liam reached forward and dug his claws into her arm. And the two of them watched as her entire form became transparent in the blink of an eye. Liam’s claws went straight through her arm. The weretiger approached from behind the Amazon and slowly began to dissipate into wisps of silvery smoke. Theo reached for Liam’s hand, trying to pull him away from the warrior, but he was too late to stop her from caressing a blade down the back of Liam’s neck.  
Theo gave a cry of outrage as the blue energy from the blade seeped into Liam’s skin from the cut.  
Then the energy was blasted back outward, slamming Theo into the wall and the Amazon stumbling back. The door was pushed shut, the window panes rattled.

For a moment the room was silent and still. The Amazon was staring at Liam, head tilted in curiosity. She seemed to be memorizing his face, taking in the bright yellow of his eyes, the claws and fangs. With a dismissive sweep of her gaze over to Theo, she turned and stepped through the wall, vanishing from sight with the weretiger trailing behind her.  
Liam’s fingers crept to the quickly-closing wound on his neck. “What- but I- how- why did she-” Liam sputtered. Theo got up from against the wall and walked quickly over to where Liam was standing. He grabbed his shoulders and roughly turned him around. “Hey!” Liam said indignantly. “What are you doing?”

Theo ignored him as he studied Liam’s skin. There was no mark, no wound, no blood. “How?” Theo asked. “How did your body expel the poison like that?”  
“I have no idea!” Liam said. “What makes you think I have any experience with weretigers and Amazon warriors?”  
Theo opened his mouth to respond, but then there was a soft knock on the door.  
“Boys?” came the voice of Liam’s mother, sounding soft and concerned. “Is everything alright in there?”  
“Uh- yeah!” Liam said. “We were just- playing video games,” he said quickly. Theo rolled his eyes. _Smooth_ , he mouthed to Liam, who scowled in response.  
“Alright,” she said. “But it’s after midnight. Go to bed.”  
“Okay,” Liam said. “Good night.”  
“Good morning by now,” Theo muttered.

Once Liam’s mother had left Theo turned back to look at Liam’s neck. “What if all the poison isn’t gone?” he asked. The thought worried him more than it should have. Liam shrugged and pushed Theo away. “I’m sure it’s fine,” he said. “We have more important things to worry about.”  
“Like what?”  
“Why my body expelled the poison and yours didn’t.”  
Theo shrugged. “I’m not even a werewolf,” he said bitterly. “You’re a beta. You’re a lot stronger than I am.” Especially now that he could barely shift.  
Liam turned his head to glare at the place where the Amazon had vanished. “I have a theory,” he admitted. “About why the weretigers keep attacking us.”  
Theo waited for him to continue. “It’s probably because we’re werewolves,” he said. “Or chimeras, whatever. The supernatural have always been drawn to the supernatural. So that means all the other humans in Beacon Hills should be safe. If they’re only coming after us, we won’t have to worry about keeping everyone safe.” 

Theo mulled that over. “Unless they’re like the ghost riders,” he pointed out. “Taking everybody until there’s no one left. Besides, the weretigers and ghost riders are both connected to spirits. That’s more likely.”  
“Then why haven’t they attacked any humans?” Liam argued.  
“I don’t _know_ ,” he said. “We don’t know anything, Liam. All the information we have is from the notebook of a guy that tried to kill us multiple times.”  
Theo was pacing, his thoughts going in circles. How did Gerard know about weretigers, anyway? Why were the Amazons even there? He could still be poisoned himself, for all they knew. Liam could drop dead at any second, and there would be no warning, nothing to prepare for.  
“Hey,” Liam said, grabbing his wrist. Theo instantly stopped pacing, felt himself calm down even at the simple touch. He turned to see Liam looking at him with confusion and concern in his blue eyes. “We’ll figure it out,” he said. “Why are you freaking out so much?”

“We could both be dying right now,” Theo said, forcing calm into his voice. “The idea that you could just drop dead at any second doesn’t bother you?”  
Liam flicked his claws out and sliced a nail across his wrist. Scarlet blood spilled out. “There,” he said, the cut already sealing. “Did you see any silver or blue?”  
“No,” Theo said.  
“So stop worrying about it,” he said.  
“Fine.”  
“Okay.”  
Theo moved toward the door and started back into the hallway.  
“Theo,” Liam said. He turned to stare at Liam, eyebrows raised in question. “Yes?” he asked. Liam swallowed. “On the bridge earlier, why were you- I mean, what were you-”  
Theo didn’t want to hear him ask why he was crying. Liam should have known, if he even remembered the night he and Stiles were stalking him.  
“I was just thinking,” he said, which he knew wasn’t the answer Liam was looking for, and wasn’t the one he wanted to give. But Liam just stood there as he watched Theo retreated back into the room he had been given, even if Theo wanted to stay.

At some point, Theo must have fallen asleep. He supposed his exhaustion had finally gotten to the better of him, and he had somehow managed to drift off.  
But, as always, with sleep came his nightmares.  
And when Theo opened his eyes, he was in the morgue again.  
Theo exhaled slowly, eyes drifting shut again. He wondered what would happen if he stayed here instead of letting Tara find him; if he stayed on this shelf, would he ever have to endure Tara ripping his heart out again?

But he could still hear her voice, taunting him from the corridors of the hospital.  
_“Theeeeoooooooo.”_  
Theo’s eyes flew open again. He knew he had to get out, had to face Tara again, because he deserved it. Theo could be called a lot of things, but he wasn’t a coward.  
No, he deserved this endless torment, and all the pain and fear Tara’s presence brought.  
So he made himself push open the door, like he had so many times before. He knew the feeling of cold linoleum against his bare feet like the back of his hand. The stale smell of the air was too familiar.  
Tara was watching him through the doors to the morgue. For a moment she stood there, watching him. Theo wondered what she was waiting for. “Go ahead,” he said quietly. “You know what to do.”

Theo watched as Tara approached him, steps light, gaze boring into his.  
“Do it,” he said, hating himself for the way his voice broke.  
But as Tara reached for his chest, Theo could her another heartbeat echoing in his ears alongside his own. It was strong, steady but slow, like the flow and ebb of a tide. Theo found the tension melting from his body, even as he stood face-to-face with his dead sister.  
And his thoughts were drawn to Liam.  
Liam, unknowing and asleep in the room next to his, anchoring Theo when he didn’t even know it. His hands curled into fists. He could picture the darkness of his borrowed room, the feeling of cool sheets against his skin, the smell of Liam’s home.  
Home.  
Instantly the morgue vanished, memories of Tara falling back into the depths of his mind.  
Theo’s nightmare had… vanished. Because of Liam.

Waking up from his nightmares had always been endless tears, shaking uncontrollably and his heart jackhammering in his chest. True, Theo’s heartbeat was still moving too quickly, but he wasn’t swept away by a panicked frenzy. Because of Liam.  
_Because of Liam_.  
Theo had been toeing a fine line for too long now. He was trapped in a constant state of limbo, stuck between thoughts of bitterness and regret, tilting precariously on this tightrope.  
But below it was a safety net, the whispers of hope for a better future.  
And now, finally, Theo was letting himself fall.  
Theo had been pushing away these thoughts for so long. He had been forcing himself to say, when thoughts of Liam came about, _my anchor_.  
Now it was just…  
_Mine._  
Liam had become so much more than an anchor. He had slipped past all Theo’s defenses, made himself a steady, constant presence in Theo’s life. All in the span of two months.  
_I have a crush on Liam_ , Theo thought, and it made him want to laugh.  
He was so screwed.

Theo woke up to the smell of coffee and toast. It took him a moment to remember everything that had happened: Liam healing him, Liam almost dying, Liam pulling him back from his nightmare.  
His realization about Liam.  
Theo buried his head into his pillow with a groan. He wished it were possible to unthink things, to stuff that stupid idea somewhere in his head where he’d never remember it again.  
Why Liam, of all people?  
A knock on the door sent his thought process to an abrupt halt. “Tedd- Theo?” Liam’s mother asked. “There’s breakfast if you’d like any.”  
He swallowed back the lump in his throat. It had been so long since he’d ever been asked a question like that. “Okay,” he said. “Thank you.”

When Theo heard her footsteps retreating he cautiously crept to the door. He didn’t know what to do, had no idea how to act…  
He peered into Liam’s room, which was empty. Theo supposed Liam had already gone downstairs, so he made his way down the creaking staircase. When he got into the kitchen, Liam looked up at him and snorted with laughter. Theo stared at him. “What?” he demanded. Liam snorted again. “Your hair,” he said. “It looks like there was a bird nesting in it.”  
Theo scowled. “Shut up, Tinker Bell,” he snapped.  
“Fine, _Teddy_ ,” Liam said back.  
They stood in awkward silence. “We need to go to the library,” Theo said to break the tension in the room. Liam bit into his piece of toast. “I thought we already established that there was nothing about weretigers there,” he said, voice muffled by his food.

“Don’t talk with your mouth full, that’s disgusting,” Theo chided. “And also, do you know anything about drawing pentagrams and trapping spirits?”  
Liam looked as if he were about to choke on his toast. “What the hell?” he asked. “You want to trap a weretiger in a pentagram? Isn’t that for summoning demons or something?”  
“Demons, spirits, same thing,” Theo said, waving his hand. “There was a pentagram and an octagram tattooed on her wrists,” he continued. “There has to be some significance. I mean, I have no idea what the octagram is for, but there should be something about that in the library.”

“You don’t know what an octagram does?” Liam demanded, as if it were common knowledge.  
“No?” Theo said.  
“It’s a Gnostic symbol,” Liam said. “The octagram is used as a symbol of creation. But the Norse said that it was a symbol to invoke magic and protect the bearer.”  
“Okay, glad you’re a history nerd, but that is not common knowledge,” Theo yawned, reaching over for a piece of toast.  
“Whatever,” Liam scowled. “Are we going to the library or not?”  
“Let’s go,” Theo agreed, not waiting for Liam as he strode out of the kitchen. When he heard Liam scrambling behind him Theo said, without turning around, “Legs too short to keep up with me, Tinker Bell?” he smirked. Liam responded by shoving him into the wall. “We’re practically the same height, asshole,” he growled. “I’m not even that short.”  
“Sure,” Theo said, drawing out the word in the most sarcastic way possible, and followed Liam out to his truck.

At the library Liam was contemplating if they would get in trouble for sneaking Theo in. “Oh come on,” Theo said. “I could technically still be a student. I just lost the card.”  
“Fine,” Liam sighed, swiping the card. “Have fun researching your demon stuff.”  
“I will,” Theo said, and waltzed over to mythology section. He pulled the first demonology book off the shelf, turned to the table of contents, and flipped to the section about drawing pentagrams. As he scanned the text Liam came up.  
“I thought you had class?” he said. Liam shrugged. “This is probably more important,” he said.  
“Well, I already found everything we need.”  
“Of course you did.”  
Theo tucked the book in his pocket. “You can go ahead back to class now, Tinker-” movement caught his eye before he could finish speaking. He turned to see someone watching them from the shadows of the next shelf. His blood ran cold. It made him think back to the parking lot, when there had been a silhouette watching him.

“Who’s there?” he demanded, walking closer. Liam trailed confusedly behind him. “What are you talking about?” he asked in a harsh whisper. “There’s no one there.” Theo ignored him, and looked to where the figure had vanished.  
“Theeeeeo.”  
He froze. But that was Tara’s voice. She couldn’t be here. How was she here?  
Her figure appeared farther down the rows of shelves. Theo followed. He had to figure out why she was there, and how.  
Everytime he go close to where she was standing, Tara would vanish and appear up ahead. But Theo continued on, determined to catch up with her, until he was running through the halls. When she appeared in an empty biology classroom, he hurtled through the door without a second thought. The door slammed shut behind him, but he barely registered the sound.

The sight in front of Theo made him gasp. It was Tara, that he knew for a fact. She was standing in front of the chalkboard, chest dripping blood, arms dangling uselessly at her side. As Theo walked closer he could see…  
A pentagram, drawn in silvery blood.  
And Tara was standing directly in the center of it. The blood oozing from the cavity of her chest flowed through the lines of the pentagram as it hit the tile floor.  
“Tara?” he asked.  
“Theo,” she whispered. “Theeeeeeeo.”  
He took a step forward. But then the room was filled with light, and his sister was gone the moment the door opened. 

He turned around to see Liam standing there, looking afraid and thoroughly freaked out.  
“Theo,” Liam said, approaching him warily. “Why are you in here?”  
He frantically looked back to where the pentagram had been. There was no trace of blood, no evidence that his sister had been standing there.  
“She was here,” Theo said, and he wondered if the words were more to convince himself or Liam.  
“She was right there, Liam, and now she’s gone.” His hands were shaking as he ran them through his hair.  
“Who?” Liam asked, his voice surprisingly gentle.  
“Tara,” he said, voice breaking on his sister’s name. “She was standing in pentagram, I followed her here, she was _right there_.” His heart was pounding. Had he imagined it? Was he going crazy?

“Hey,” Liam said. “It’s okay. You were probably imagining it.” He sounded unbearably awkward.  
Theo supposed he had little experience with comforting people. Or, at least, with comforting him. Theo moved past Liam to stand in the hallway, his urge to get out of that room blocking everything else out. He leaned against the wall and closed his eyes; Liam stood awkwardly next to him.  
“We can trap the weretiger in the tunnels,” he said. “Tell Mason and Corey. We’ll need backup, because I think we both know this could go badly wrong.”  
“Don’t just change the subject,” Liam said. “Are you forgetting what just happened?”

Theo could feel himself building his walls back up as he turned to look at Liam. “It doesn’t matter. There’s nothing else to be said.”  
Don’t show weakness. Be emotionless. He had followed this same path too many times.  
Liam opened his mouth to respond, but Theo pushed off the wall in obvious dismissal.  
“Don’t forget to tall Mason and Corey, Tinker Bell,” he said, and casually walked down the hall.  
He ignored the strange feeling in his chest and tried to get his hands to stop shaking. 

Theo was waiting in his truck, feet propped on the dashboard, when Liam came out with Mason and Corey. He ignored the concerned look Liam gave him as he slid into the passenger seat.  
“So we’re actually doing this?” Mason asked, a strange mixture of fear and excitement in his voice.  
“Yeah,” Liam said. “This is really just to see if we can, I think. Find out exactly how powerful these things are.”  
“You’re going to trap a weretiger without having any idea of what to do with it?” Corey asked incredulously. “No offense, but that sounds like a terrible idea.”  
“You’re welcome to bail if you’d like,” The said indifferently.  
No one spoke for the rest of the ride.

Theo knew the entrance to the tunnels better than he remembered his childhood home, so getting in was easy. The hard part was finding a place to set up the pentagram.  
“We could use one of the Dread Doctors’ old labs,” Mason suggested. Theo’s shoulders tensed, and he hoped the movement wasn’t visible. “Let’s not,” he said. There were too many memories tied with this place already, and it was making him more nervous than he’d like to admit.  
“It’s the most wide-open place down here,” Liam said. “We should do it.”  
“Fine,” Theo sighed. He thought he could hear Mason quietly ask Corey if he was okay. Theo realized that Corey also had terrible memories associated with this place. 

He pulled the door open and slipped inside. The other filed in behind him. Theo kept his eyes trained on the floor; if he looked too closely, too many memories of Tara would come flooding back.  
And after seeing her somewhere other than his dreams a mere half-hour ago, that was not an ordeal Theo was eager to go through.  
He pulled his sleeve up and unraveled the bandage wrapped around his forearm. He knew Corey and Mason would probably be confused, but he made no effort to explain anything to them.

“I had a theory,” Liam addressed Mason and Corey. “That the weretigers are only going after the supernatural.”  
“I haven’t been attacked,” Corey said worriedly.  
“Yet,” Theo muttered. “Between the four of us, or presence should be enough to attract one.”  
“This reminds me too much of the Ghost Riders,” Mason said. Theo ignored him as he flicked out his claws, with too much difficulty, and sliced one across the mostly-healed wound the weretiger had given him. He dipped a finger in the blood and was about to draw with it when he saw the color.  
His blood was tinted silver.  
“I guess that lighter wasn’t very effective after all,” Theo commented warily. Liam gripped his wrist and turned it up so he could inspect the blood. 

“But I thought- I thought you were healed!” Liam said.  
“Apparently not,” Theo responded.  
“Why are you being so calm about this?”  
“Let’s not rehash this argument, Liam. Now, I’m really eager to get out of this place, so let’s just ignore it for now and draw the stupid pentagram.”  
Liam glared at him. Theo stared back. Then Liam dropped his wrist and stepped back with a huff.  
“It’s your life,” he said.  
_Not entirely_ , he thought.  
Theo dipped his fingers back in the blood and crouched down to begin drawing the ideogram. Once the star was complete he drew a circle connecting the points and stepped back. Theo chose to ignore how slowly the cut was healing. 

The minutes ticked by agonizingly slow as they waited.  
“Nothing’s happening,” Mason whispered.  
“Should we add more blood?” Liam asked, claws already out.  
“Try it,” Theo said, keeping his eyes on the pentagram, as if he could summon a weretiger by force of will. The metallic tang in the air became stronger as more blood was added to the pentagram. When the blood began to flow along the lines of the pentagram, it reminded Theo too much of the one Tara had been standing in.  
They all stepped back simultaneously when the star began to glow wither watery light.  
“I feel like we’re part of a cult,” Mason whispered.  
Then Liam whirled around, facing the door. Theo could smell his fear.  
“There are footsteps outside,” Liam whispered. “I don’t think it’s a human.”

And, from the shadows stepped a weretiger.  
The thing’s blue eyes were gleaming as they all stepped around the pentagram, keeping the star between them and the weretiger.  
They waited with bated breath as the animal approached.  
It smelled the air for a moment, as if confused by the blood.  
Its front paw was half an inch away from the edge of the circle.  
Then it stepped around the pentagram.  
“Uh,” Mason said. “So we should, like, run?”  
“Probably,” Liam agreed.  
“We’ll split up,” Theo breathed. “Go. Go!”

Mason and Corey immediately ran off together. He was shocked when Liam grabbed his wrist and pulled him along so they could run together.  
“Well, that was a terrible idea,” Liam said as they ran, turning corners and generally getting lost in the maze of pipes.  
“Not quite yet,” Theo said. “I might be able to fix this. Assuming we don’t get killed first.”  
“Well, tigers are nocturnal and generally have poor eyesight,” Liam said, “So we might be okay.”  
“Now you’re a zoologist and a history nerd,” Theo muttered. “Wonderful.”

Liam elbowed him in the side and abruptly pulled him into a dark space between the pipes in the walls. “It shouldn’t be able to find us in here,” he whispered, seemingly oblivious to exactly how tight the space was. Theo swallowed and tried to calm his heartbeat. “Yeah,” he breathed.  
“So what’s this plan of yours?” Liam asked. How could he be making such casual conversation when they were practically standing chest-to-chest?  
“I can shift and lure the weretiger back to the pentagram,” Theo said. He was grateful the space was dark, otherwise Liam would be able to see how red his face was.

“Okay. Just, like, don’t die,” Liam said. His tone was light, but Theo thought there was an undertone of worry in the words. He slipped past Liam, with some difficulty, and stood back in the low lighting of the tunnel. He couldn’t help the growl of pain that slipped past his lips as he shifted. He really needed to work on that.  
Theo tilted his nose in the air, trying to detect where the weretiger might be. The beast seemed to be close, so Theo followed the smell.  
And almost ran directly into the weretiger.  
Theo slipped past it before he even knew what he was doing.  
The weretiger followed.

With the worst timing possible, Theo realized that he didn’t actually remember where the lab with the pentagram was. But he tried to detect the source of the place that held the strongest scent of blood and pain. Uncomfortably aware of how the weretiger was almost close enough to bite his tail, he hurtled through the door anyway.  
He had almost reached the pentagram, prepared to jump to the side, when the weretiger appeared in front of him. Theo tried to stop. But he was running too fast, and he slammed to the weretiger.  
Despite it being so much bigger than him, Theo’s momentum managed to shove the weretiger into the pentagram.

The pentagram flared a little bit brighter as the weretiger snarled at him. It leapt forward, only to be slammed back when it tried to cross the barrier of blood. Liam came hurrying in with Mason and Corey on his heels. They all stopped to look at the weretiger, which was slowly beginning to shift back into the form of an Amazon.  
“So, now we have a really angry woman in a demon-summoning circle, and I’m hopelessly confused,” Mason said breathlessly. Liam was studying the pacig tiger.  
“What now?” he asked.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I meant to have this chapter posted like 22 hours ago, and I have no excuse for why it wasn't posted then besides the fact that I was busy and never found enough time to upload... sorry friends.
> 
> I was hoping to get another chapter (in addition to this one) posted, but now I'm thinking it's going to be published Thursday or Friday.  
> Also there will probably be a lot of mistakes in this chapter because I literally have to get this posed in five minutes before I'll be gone for like eight hours. So I never actually got a chance to read the whole thing through, which I apologize for.
> 
> So, Theo finally admits to himself that he has a crush on Liam. I guess thing will get interesting from there.  
> Do you think Theo was hallucinating at the school, or seeing things that were actually there? Let me know your predictions if you'd like.
> 
> tumblr- @lighworm-scones07 (no time to add a link today oops).  
> Thanks for reading!!


	8. Guilt- Liam

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mason almost dies of laughter.  
> Jenna Geyer is a Thiam shipper that pulls a Molly Weasley.  
> Theo lets his walls down to help Liam.

Theo’s plan had seemed reasonable up until this point.  
Sure, maybe it was a little bit extreme, trying to trap a weretiger in a demon-summoning star made of blood. But it was worth a shot. And yet, now, Liam was starting to think this was a terrible idea. They never should have come here.  
“We never should have come here,” he said, voicing his thoughts aloud. Mason nodded in silent agreement. Theo, still in his wolf form, was ignoring them. He was too busy watching the Amazon pacing in the pentagram.  
“Do they even, like, speak English?” Mason asked.  
“Probably not,” Liam said.  
“So now we have a freaky, homicidal warrior in a star made of blood,” said Mason. “Who’s also naked,” he added. “That we can’t communicate with. What exactly are we doing here again?”

The Amazon warily approached the edge of the circle again. She placed her hand tentatively to the invisible barrier that prevented her from escaping, tracing her hand along it in something like a gentle caress. In response the light surrounding the pentagram pulsed, and Liam thought he could see it fade slightly. Liam could see the pentagram and octagram tattooes on her wrist that Theo had mentioned earlier.  
_Octagrams_ , he thought. _Protective ideograms. We’re all idiots_.  
“Um,” Liam said helplessly. “Octagrams are… kind of protective spells? And she has one tattooed on her wrist. Which means that she might be able to break out?”  
“You’re really going to have to fill us in later,” Mason grumbled. “I have _no idea_ what either of you are talking about.”  
“Then get her to shift back,” Corey said. He looked confused but determined, following the Amazon’s movement the exact same way Theo was.  
“But she’d still technically have the tattooes,” Liam pointed out. “Besides, how would we get her to shift back anyway?”

No one responded. If Theo had a solution, he certainly didn’t bother to share it. Liam turned his attention back to the pentagram. The warrior had crouched down to the cracked, uneven stone floor, and was tracing her fingertips along the bloody lines they had made. She was chanting something under her breath, whispering words in a language none of them could understand. It made Liam want to punch something, to destroy this whole lab. The whole situation was beyond frustrating; they were in the dark about too many things, and the only information they had was that ghost weretigers could turn into Amazon warriors. Which still made no sense.  
“You know, Theo, you could actually contribute to this conversation if you would shift back,” Liam said with as much sarcasm as he could muster, looking down to where Theo had been standing.  
Only to find him gone.

“Did anyone else see Theo just walk out?” Liam asked angrily. Theo was the one that dragged them into this mess; the least he could have done was stick around to make sure they didn’t, like, die.  
It was infuriating.  
“I didn’t see him leave,” Corey said.  
“We were a bit preoccupied,” Mason continued.  
Then, as if he had been summoned by the sound of his name, Theo returned in his human form. Also thankfully clothed; he must have found them back where he had shifted before.  
“Just decided to waltz out?” Liam asked, his tone filled with cold fury. Theo didn’t even bother to look at him.  
“I was looking for something,” Theo said, voice filled with forced calm. Liam thought he could see him slide something into his pocket… probably Gerard’s journal.  
“Well, you could have chosen a better time to do it,” Liam snapped. “Right as the weretiger is trying to break out, you decide it’s opportune to just leave us up against this undefeatable, obnoxious Amazon warrior.”  
“Stop taking this so seriously, Liam,” Theo said. Then he turned back to the Amazon, and his face paled. “What the hell is she doing?” Theo asked. 

The Amazon was standing again, shoulders back and chin tilted up, electric blue eyes flickering with silver. The ideograms tattooed on her wrists were also glowing, and blue shadowy figures were flitting around her hands. Slowly they formed into figures, ghost-like humans that stood around her at each point of the star. She raised her arm above her head, and the pentagram exploded.  
Without a second thought Liam was stepping in front of his friends, ready to protect them if the Amazon broke out and attacked. But when the light faded the pentagram, and the Amazon, and the spirits she had summoned were all gone.  
“She didn’t attack us,” Liam said dumbly.  
“Obviously,” Theo said. “And I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m getting out of here before she comes back with another army of spirits or whatever those things were.”

Liam stormed out before Theo could exit the lab, leaving Mason and Corey to scramble behind them. He was about to ascend the ladder that would bring them back to ground level when his phone rang. Liam pulled the ringing device from his pocket and saw the name _Sheriff Stilinski_ flash across the screen. He answered it immediately; the Sheriff said he would only call for emergencies, so something bad must have happened.  
And he thought this night couldn’t get any worse.  
“Hello?” Liam said, already dreading the response he would get. His mind was already running through the worst possible scenarios; had someone died? Was there some freak explosion or a weretiger going on a murderous rampage?  
“Liam,” came the Sheriff’s voice, crackling slightly over the poor connection of the call. “There’s been a disappearance.”  
“Who is it?” Liam asked.  
“A teenage boy. He was on a call with his friend, and the connection slipped and he was gone.”  
“And you’re assuming this is something supernatural,” Liam deadpanned.  
“Deaton was telling me something about weretigers. I don’t know exactly what’s going on here, but I think you should come over.”  
“We’ll be there soon,” Liam said grimly, and hung up.  
“Of course someone disappeared,” Liam grumbled. “I thought this wouldn’t get any worse.”  
Theo climbed into the driver’s side of his truck. “You’re the substitute Alpha,” Theo said. “Start acting like it.”  
“Easy for you to say,” Liam grumbled, sliding into the seat next to his. Mason and Corey climbed in the back. “You’re not even an actual werewolf.”  
“Ouch,” Theo said sarcastically. “My pride is wounded.”  
“It’s true,” Liam shrugged.  
The ride to the Sheriff’s station was mostly silent, except for Mason and Corey whispering from the backseat. Stilinski was waiting for them in the main room of the station. His eyes were drawn to Theo, and Liam could see surprised disgust flickering in his eyes. The look made Liam want to grab the Sheriff by the collar and shake him until he understood that Theo wasn’t evil anymore, he was really just obnoxious and annoyingly smug about everything.  
_Woah_ , Liam thought. _Since when did I go around defending Theo?_

“Do you actually have a file for this missing person?” The asked lazily. “Or are you just going to glare at me?”  
Stilinski sighed. “In my office,” he said. Theo wasted no time walking back and pulling the contents of the folder out. “Entirely human?” Theo asked, brows crinkled in confusion. “Are you sure?”  
“Human,” Stilinski confirmed.  
“I told you!” Theo said, turning to Liam. “The weretigers aren’t just targeting the supernatural.”  
Liam scowled. Why did Theo have to be right? “We don’t know that it was the Amazons who took him,” he pointed out. Theo smirked at Liam. “You just don’t want to admit that I’m right,” Theo said.  
“That’s not true.”  
“Prove it.”  
“We’ll find something of his,” Liam said, jerking his thumb to the home address written on the file. “Track his scent. Find some creepy underground lair in the woods, if you’re right that the weretigers kidnapped him.

 

Sometimes Liam truly hated being right.  
Here they were, tromping around in Beacon Hills Preserve, trying to track the scent of some random teenager with an old, ratty t-shirt of his.  
“His scent is coming from… everywhere,” Theo said, frustration creeping into his voice.  
“Maybe Liam was actually right about that underground lair,” Mason said. “And we’ve been walking around above him for hours.”  
“It’s only been thirty minutes,” Corey chided. “And, if he was kidnapped by weretigers, we can’t waste any time. We have to find him.”  
Liam closed his eyes for a moment as he walked, trying to find where the boy’s scent was strongest.  
And then, of course, the ground beneath him was unstable.  
Then Liam was falling.  
He landed in the mud with a sickening squelching noise. Liam looked up to see the hole leading way to a tunnel.  
“I found it,” he called, craning his neck to look back up a the trees. Theo’s face appeared, eyes bright with laughter. “Idiot,” he said, jumping down effortlessly next to Liam. He hauled him up by his wrist as Mason and Corey came down.  
“This way,” Liam said, refusing to make eye contact with Theo again. He didn’t want to have to punch the bastard again for being so maddeningly smug that he fell in a hole. 

After walking for some time, Liam could see light up ahead. He approached it eagerly, in anticipation of what exactly the dwelling of an Amazon would look like.  
What he saw was… unexpected, to say the least.  
Stretching between the two walls of the cave was a translucent wall of silvery-blue energy. The matter was floating along the force-field, or whatever the thing was, in gossamer-like whirls of mist.  
Liam reached his hand forward to find out if the wall was corporeal, but Theo batted his hand away.  
“You idiot,” he said with an annoyed huff. “You saw what the poison on their claws did to me. Don’t go touching that without knowing what it’ll do to you.”  
“Don’t boss me around,” Liam snapped, glaring at him.  
“Of course, _Alpha_ ,” Theo said, voice holding the greatest amount of disrespect Liam had ever heard. Liam flipped him off as Theo crouched down to the floor to gather mud and rocks from the ground. Theo stood back up and casually threw the rocks toward the shield, shifting arm muscles visible from under his shirt as he threw.  
When the rocks and mud disintegrated completely, Liam was glad Theo had pulled his hand back.

“If we can’t get through that, we can’t rescue the kid that disappeared,” Corey pointed out.  
“Check the journal,” Liam told Theo, who promptly pulled it from his pocket.  
“There’s nothing,” he said, ruffling a few of the pages. “I’ve read this whole thing through.”  
“Then I guess we go back,” Mason said glumly. “Try to figure something else out.”  
On the way back to the hole Liam had fallen into, Theo slid up beside Liam to walk next to him.  
“I told you I was right, Tinker Bell,” Theo said, his voice unnecessarily loud as he spoke. Mason stopped abruptly and turned around, eyes wide in shock. He stared at Liam for a moment, then promptly burst into laughter. Even Corey was smiling slightly.  
“Hold on,” Mason said breathlessly. “He- Theo calls you _Tinker Bell_?”  
“He’s short,” Theo said.  
“We’re the same height!” Liam shouted, exasperated at all three of them.

Mason started laughing again, the raucous sound echoing in the tunnel around them.  
“My nickname for him is better,” Liam said, and turned to look directly at Theo. “ _Teddy_.”  
Mason was outright cackling now, and he had to be supported by Corey because he was laughing so hard. Theo snarled at Liam and shoved him into the wall. His hand landed wrist-deep in the mud gathered there, so Liam merely scooped it up. Underneath he could see strange markings, but he filed away that piece of information for later. Right now he had more important things to do. Theo must have seen what Liam was about to do, because he ducked just as Liam threw the mudball.  
But Liam had been expecting that, and threw it low enough so that it hit Theo directly in the face.

Mason went silent for a moment, staring at Theo’s face, which was obscured by mud. Theo spat, and mud landed at Liam’s feet.  
“Asshole,” Theo snapped, wiping mud off his face. The remainder was just smeared around, making Theo look like a Skinwalker or some other bizarre savage. “Let’s go.”  
“That’s what you get for calling me Tinker Bell,” Liam said as he walked behind Theo. He was looking at Theo’s face and trying hard not to burst into laughter himself; Theo had mud in his ear, and a majority of it was caked in his hair. Liam was too busy staring at Theo’s face, and he didn’t notice that Theo had stuck his foot about before Liam tripped and fell face-first into the mud.  
Liam gasped as he felt the surprisingly cold mud seep into his clothes. He was trying to come up with the most profane insult he could possibly utter as Theo gripped the collar of his shirt and hauled him up. “You deserved that, Tinker Bell,” Theo said. Mason snorted from behind them.

The ride back to his house was terribly uncomfortable. Liam fought the urge to scratch the dried flakes of mud from his skin, as Theo had warned him not to make a mess of his truck with considerable death threats. Liam didn’t know whether to be scared or amused. So he sat in the most twisted position possible to avoid getting mud anywhere, something that Theo found overly funny. Once Mason and Corey had left Theo flipped the radio on, and the soft sounds of music flitted through the truck.  
“Classical,” Liam said. “Nice.”  
Theo scowled and turned it back off.  
“No, don’t do that,” Liam said, turning it back on. “I was enjoying the ballet music.”  
Theo gave him an utterly unimpressed look as he pulled in the driveway to Liam’s house. Liam saw, with no small amount of dread, that the hall light was on. “My mom must be waiting for us,” he said nervously. “She’s going to kill me.”  
“She will,” Theo added helpfully, sliding his shoes off on the porch before opening the door. Liam followed suit and cautiously stepped into the hall.

“Liam,” his mother said, eyes going wide as she took in the sight of them both. “Would you like to explain what happened?”  
“We got into a friendly argument,” Liam hedged. “And then it got… not friendly?”  
Theo snorted. “Smooth, Tinker Bell.”  
“You can go shower dear,” his mom said to Theo. Liam opened his mouth in protest as Theo walked toward the stairs, turning to wave at Liam before disappearing. Liam glared at his retreating figure.  
“You know how I feel about these shenanigans,” she scolded. “And Ted- Theo is our guest. Treat him with respect.”  
Liam almost wanted to laugh. “He started it,” he said. His mother’s glare made Liam want to follow Theo, but she grabbed his sleeve and marched him to the hall bathroom.  
“I won’t be so lenient next time,” she warned, pulling the bathroom door closed as she walked out. “If I find mud in this house, you will regret it,” she continued.  
“Yes, mom,” Liam sighed.

Liam didn’t see Theo for the remainder of the afternoon or evening. His mom tried to get him to come down for dinner, but her persistent knocking had been of no effect, and Theo stayed locked in the guest room. Dinner was awkward, to say the least, if only because his mom was still glaring at him occasionally, despite the fact that he had showered hours ago.  
It wasn’t until Liam was finishing up his homework when Theo came up to his bedroom doorway.  
“I wanted to ask you something,” he said tentatively. Liam looked up. “Sure,” he said. “What is it?”  
“How long am I allowed to stay here?” Theo asked quickly.  
Liam frowned. “What?” he said.  
“Was your offer just for last night? Should I leave?” Theo continued.  
“I thought you knew that you could stay as long as you wanted,” Liam said, confused.  
“I didn’t know that,” Theo said.  
“Well, now you know.”  
“Thanks.”  
“You’re welcome?”  
But Theo was still standing there. “Is there something else?” Liam asked. He shook his head. “I- no,” Theo said. “Nothing. Thanks, Tinker Bell.”  
And as he left the room again, Liam thought he could hear his mom hurrying away from the open door.

 

Liam had almost completely forgotten about the events of the previous night until lunch.  
“So,” Mason said, his voice overly casual. It made Liam nervous. “You and Theo have nicknames for each other. When did you get close enough for that to happen?”  
“What?” Liam asked blankly. “He just started calling me Tinker Bell. So I came up with an obnoxious nickname for him in retaliation.”  
“You two must be best friends now,” Mason said sarcastically.  
“Yeah right,” Liam scoffed. “He lives in my house. What do you expect?”  
Corey and Mason both choked on their food simultaneously, and it made Liam think that perhaps he shouldn’t have revealed that particular bit of information. 

“You’re going crazy,” Mason decided, turning to Corey. “Isn’t he crazy?”  
“Theo was living in his truck!” Liam said defensively. “What was I supposed to do?”  
“Wait a minute,” Corey said. “Theo is homeless? When did that happen?”  
Liam opened his mouth to respond, but then Nolan approached their table.  
He barely registered what he was doing as he stood up and growled at Nolan. The guy looked absolutely terrified: his skin was stark, his hands were shaking, and the air around him reeked of stress, terror and disgust. “What the hell do you want?” he spat. Nolan beat him up, allied with Monroe and tried to kill them multiple times. Why would Nolan be coming to them now?

“I know you hate me,” Nolan said, and his words were shakier than his hands. “But I found- there was this- someone died in a biology classroom,” he said, words tumbling over each other in his struggle to get them out.  
“You’re probably lying,” Liam said.  
“I’m not!” Nolan shouted, and lowered his voice when several people turned in surprise. “I’m not,” he repeated. “Just please let me show you.”  
Liam glanced over at Mason, who nodded slightly. “Fine,” he said.

As they followed Nolan down the halls Liam could smell blood.  
“I don’t think he’s lying,” Liam said. Corey nodded his agreement; he must have smelled it as well.  
Nolan pointed to the ajar door of the classroom. Liam’s eyes raked over the nameplate next to the door and saw, with a strange feeling in his stomach, that it was the same classroom where Theo had hallucinated a vision of his dead sister.  
It was unlikely to be a coincidence.  
Liam pushed the door open and stepped inside. Sure enough, the smell of blood was stronger here, twisted with something that smelled of mildew and decay.  
And there was very clearly a body sprawled at the front of the classroom.  
They approached it warily, excluding Nolan; he was cowering by the door.  
_A coward through and through_ , Liam thought. 

Liam scanned the corpse and saw, with a sickening feeling, that it matched the image of the teenager that had gone missing.  
“That’s him,” Liam whispered. “We were too late.”  
The boy’s clothes were ripped and dirty, mud caking his face and hair. Liam could see blood soaking his clothes, and his heart nearly stopped when he saw the source of the leaking blood.  
There were claw marks on the inside of his forearm, almost identical to the injuries Theo had suffered after the weretiger attack.  
“It’s definitely them,” Liam breathed, hoping he spoke quietly enough for Nolan not to hear. His heart was pounding; if Theo had been mortal, would this be the result of his injuries as well?  
“Are we missing the fact that his blood is blue?” Mason squeaked. Liam crouched down, wrinkling his nose at the smell, and saw that Mason was indeed correct; the blood was more silver-blue than red. All Liam could do was stare at the body. Scott wouldn’t have failed if he were still in Beacon Hills. Scott always had the answers, and he would alway be able to save everyone no matter what. Liam wasn’t like that, and he never would be, and the proof of that was lying right in front of him. 

The bell rang, jolting Liam out of his stupor.  
“Guys?” Corey said nervously. “We should probably get out of here before someone frames us for a murder.”  
“You’re right,” Mason sighed. “Let’s go, Liam.”  
He got up reluctantly and followed the others out of the classroom. The rest of the school day passed quickly; Liam was anxious to tell Theo about what had happened. Theo’s truck was parked in the front lot, and Liam went straight to it.  
“The boy that went missing? He was dead in a classroom,” Liam said without preamble. Theo jerked his head up; had he been asleep?  
“ _What_?” he demanded. “How did he get to the school? Who killed him?”  
“It was the weretigers,” Liam said quickly. “There were claw marks on his forearm, the same as yours. His blood was blue.”  
Theo pulled out of the lot. His eyes were on the road, but Liam could tell his thoughts were far beyond it. “So I could be dead right now,” Theo said.  
“And that kid is dead,” Liam agreed. “It’s my fault.”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Theo said. “How is that your fault?”  
Liam buried his face in his hands. “I’m supposed to be the protector, Theo,” he said, voice muffled by his hands. “And this kid died because I was too late to save him. He was fifteen, Theo. _Fifteen_. He had a family and a life ahead of him, and now he’s gone, because we haven’t found out enough about this supernatural threat.”  
Liam could feel Theo pull over and stop the truck. He didn’t expect the hand on his shoulder, and looked up at the contact.  
“It’s not your fault,” Theo said firmly. “It’s not. We tried, Liam. You know that. If you had attempted to cross that barrier you could have disintegrated. And then there would be no one to protect Beacon Hills.”  
Liam met Theo’s eyes. “You could do it,” he said. “You would protect Beacon Hills if I was gone.”  
“I’m not a protector,” Theo laughed bitterly. “You should know that.”

Liam still wasn’t convinced, and Theo seemed to pick up on that immediately. “The thing about guilt,” he said, “Is that it comes in waves. At first it’s like you’re drowning amongst the banks of a flooded river, desperately thrashing, fighting for air.” All Liam could do was stare at him. He had never heard Theo say anything like this, resemble anything of basic human emotion. It was always obnoxious smugness or sarcasm, and sometimes that undertone of bitterness.  
“And then it calms over time,” Theo said. He stopped looking at Liam and turned to face forward. Liam thought his voice wavered. “Sometimes you can almost forget, pretend it never happened. But then it comes back. The tide will roll in again when you least expect it, dragging you back underwater. And you try to fight it, Liam. But you’re still drowning, dying, begging, and no one will do a single thing about it. They’ll watch. They’ll stand there and do nothing. Which is when you need… an anchor.”  
“Someone to pull you back up,” Liam finished, still confused. Theo sounded so- so heartfelt, so completely honest. Liam didn’t think he was trying to be manipulative, at least not this time.  
Theo’s hand still never left Liam’s shoulder.

“You speak from experience,” Liam said quietly. Theo’s jaw was clenched as he turned to face Liam again, and his hazel eyes looked like broken glass.  
“Yes,” he said simply. “But it does get easier over time. And you never stepped back and let this kid die. You did everything you could, as soon as you could.”  
“It still didn’t help,” Liam said.  
“But you tried,” Theo whispered. “And that’s what counts, Liam. You actually tried.”  
Theo took his hand off Liam shoulder, and he noticed the absence of the warmth there as Theo turned the truck back on.  
“The room where Nolan found the boy was the same classroom where you hallucinated your sister,” Liam said quietly. Theo stiffened. “She wasn’t a hallucination,” he said. “She wasn’t, Liam. I would know.  
“How?” Liam asked. “She’s dead, she couldn’t possibly be in Beacon Hills,” Liam said. He could practiclly see Theo putting his walls back up, folding back within himself even after everything he had just said.  
“TARA WAS THERE, LIAM!” Theo yelled. Liam flinched back in shock.  
“She was there,” Theo said, voice marginally softer. He clenched his hand into a fist, and Liam thought he was shaking. “Don’t tell me that what I saw wasn’t real,” he said.  
“Okay,” Liam said. He wanted to push Theo, find out exactly what had happened, but he refrained from doing so; Theo looked almost as unsettled as he had been when he had first seen his sister in the classroom.

Theo was silent for the rest of the drive. His shoulders were tense, and he overall seemed like a coiled snake, ready to strike at the first thing that attacked him.  
Or the first person that tried to ask him a question.  
Theo ignored Liam as he disappeared to the guest bedroom again, and Liam wondered what Theo was spending so much time doing. His mom was also evidently worried, but Liam said that he would talk to Theo.  
He never actually did, but Theo wouldn’t have answered any of his question anyway.

It was hours later, and Liam was still thinking about the boy that was murdered. Zach was his name. And Liam couldn’t help but wonder what his family was doing right at that moment; were they in shock, were they grieving, had they even been notified yet?  
His phone ringing made his thoughts stop abruptly. He pulled it from the nightstand to see Mason’s name on the Caller ID. He answered immediately.  
“Liam,” Mason said, voice urgent. “You need to come over right now.”  
He was awake immediately. “Why?” Liam asked. “Mase, what happened?”  
“Just come over,” he said. “Please, Liam.”

Within minutes Liam was pulling out of the driveway and speeding over. Mason was waiting for him at the door.  
“What happened?” Liam demanded. Mason scrubbed a hand over his face.  
“It’s Corey,” Mason said, and there was so much despair in his voice.  
“What happened to Corey?” Liam asked again.  
“He was kidnapped. Corey is gone.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First things first, I am so sorry. This was supposed to be posted on Friday at the latest. And I would give you a reasonable excuse but all I'm going to say is that something bad happened, it was completely unexpected, and now this chapter is two days late. It's also kind of a mess because I wrote it in a rush and did little proofreading, so I'm also terribly sorry for that.  
> As we continue with the Rant of Apologies, after the next chapter I might have to start doing weekly updates. But I will tell you that chapter 9 will be posted, at the absolute latest, this coming Wednesday at 9 PM EST. I've already planned most of it out, so I can guarantee that it will be posted by then. I'll update you guys when that chapter is posted.
> 
> On a happier note, I'm going to say that I never thought this story would get almost 1K hits in less than a month. I was expecting 100 hits over months... this was just a random idea, the first fic of this length I've ever attempted to write, and I for real never expected people would be so dedicated to reading this story. So thank you SO MUCH for commenting about this story, and leaving kudos, and everything. It's all completely unexpected. 
> 
>  
> 
> [My tumblr is here](https://lightworm-scones07.tumblr.com/)


	9. Worry- Theo

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jenna Geyer and Theo feels.   
> Corey’s fate is (possibly) determined.   
> Theo and Liam make a few interesting discoveries... good or bad, that could be debated.

If his fevered dreams were any indication, Liam had left at some point in the night.  
Theo expected to dream of Tara and the morgue when he managed to slip into something that resembled sleep. But instead it was strange visions of darkness and smoke, the likes of which made Theo uneasy. It was as if something were waiting to strike.  
He didn’t like it.  
And when he had been dragged from his shallow state of subconsciousness, Theo had closed his eyes and tried to listen to the sounds around him. Pipes groaning, the deep breathing of those asleep in rooms near his… but no trace of that steady, reassuring heartbeat Theo was looking for.   
He had actually reached the point where he could barely sleep without Liam being near him.  
It was sickening and pathetic at the same time.

Theo sighed and rolled onto his back for what could have been the thousandth time that night. He was stuck in an accursed state of limbo where exhaustion was seeping into his bones, making his eyelids lose on their own accord, but he still couldn’t actually sleep. After agonizing minutes of listening to the absence of Liam’s heartbeat, Theo angrily threw off the covers and crept into the dark hall. He managed to almost fall down the stairs, barely catching himself on the banister.  
At least Liam wasn’t there to laugh at him for it.   
Within moments Theo was slipping out the front door and sitting on the edge of the bottom step. The cold air was making his skin prickle with discomfort, but Theo ignored the feeling, letting himself be swept away by his thoughts.

Everything in general felt off-kilter. And Theo hated the feeling. There were too many thoughts swirling around in his brain, a strange sense that he was forgetting something. It was like an itch he couldn’t scratch, a burning desire to fulfill something he had no idea he wanted to complete.  
That, combined with the flood of memories of his past, made Theo want to scream in frustration.  
He didn’t know why his memories of Tara and the Dread Doctors were hitting him so hard, and so suddenly. It probably had something to do with the fact that Tara was appearing, in broad daylight, in places that weren’t Theo’s dreams.  
It wasn’t that he wanted Tara to be real. But Theo still knew for sure that Tara was not some strange hallucination, even if Liam doubted him for that. But he knew exactly what he had seen, and Liam’s doubts aside, Tara had been in that biology classroom.  
And they had been in the very lab of the Dread Doctors earlier that day, and that brought back too many experiences that Theo spent too long trying to stifle. But Liam had been there, and that counted for something; Theo was done trying to ignore the fact that he needed Liam there, pathetic as it might be.

_Liam_. Even thinking about him brought a small smile to Theo’s mouth, turning the corners of his lips up. Everything about him was infuriating: his temper, his impulsiveness, his violent nature… but with that came Liam’s unwavering loyalty to those he cared about, a desire to protect his friends. So much like Scott, the perfect Beta for the True Alpha. Theo was so lost in his thoughts, thoughts of blue eyes and anchors and hopeless crushes, that he didn’t notice when Liam’s mom perched on the stair next to him.  
Theo started in surprise, then mentally scolded himself for being so jumpy. She was studying Theo with a scrutiny that was making him nervous, even after essentially being a lab rat for so many years.

“Everything okay out here?” she asked softly, and Theo hated himself for being drawn to the warmth and concern in her voice. He couldn’t remember a time where anyone like a parent had ever asked such a question.   
“Fine,” he said, in a flat tone that could have been more convincing.   
“I brought a blanket,” Liam’s mom said, pulling one from the step behind them and draping it around his shoulders. The gesture twisted something in his heart, and it made Theo want to hug her. But he refrained from doing so, for her simple act of kindness did nothing to change the fact that they were still strangers.   
“Thank you,” Theo whispered, and when Mrs. Geyer wrapped an arm around his shoulder he felt his throat constrict with emotion. He knew he deserved none of this, but he couldn’t stop himself from leaning into her embrace slightly. It was nice, nicer than anything he had experienced in a long time.   
Just another item to add to his long list of regrets.

“What were you thinking about?” she asked, tone light and conversational, but Theo thought that perhaps the question was more prying than she let on.  
“Nothing,” he lied, and Mrs. Geyer raised a disbelieving eyebrow.  
“Alright,” she said, with a knowing look that Theo wasn’t sure he wanted to decipher. He had heard her eavesdropping on his conversation about staying with Liam from earlier, and she’d raised no objections so far. Theo wasn’t going to bring it up. It was more than just Liam that made him want to stay here. The idea of feeling like he was welcome, a place where there were people that cared, was something he didn’t know he wanted so much. But now he was here, in a place where he could fall asleep to the sound of his anchor’s heartbeat, and Theo never wanted to leave.

The two of them sat in silence, but it wasn’t awkward or uncomfortable in any way; no, Mrs. Geyer seemed content to sit with him in the cold, even though she had no blanket herself.   
She moved only when Liam’s car was visible from down the street, bright headlights the only disruption to the quiet night.  
If Mrs. Geyer was surprised that her son was out this early in the morning, she didn’t show it.  
“I’ll leave you to it,” she said, with a wink that Theo also did not want to interpret. Theo stopped her just as she was about to disappear back inside the house.  
“Mrs. Geyer,” he said tentatively. She turned around expectantly. He swallowed nervously. “Thank you- thanks for letting me stay.” He waited for the dismissal that could come, but he still hoped she would disappear with just a simple response. Anything that wasn’t rejection.   
“Of course,” she said warmly. “And don’t call me Mrs. Geyer. Jenna will do.”  
“Okay,” he said, and she stepped through the door just as Liam got out of his car. As he approached the porch he gave Theo a strange look, and he realized that the blanket Jenna had given him was still around his shoulders. He shed it hastily as Liam leaned against the railing.

“So,” Liam said. “Decided to take a nap in the thirty-degree weather?”  
Theo rolled his eyes. “Couldn’t sleep,” he said. “But you seem to enjoy midnight drives around town.”  
“Mason needed me,” Liam said. “Corey was kidnapped.”  
Theo abruptly stood up, so that he was standing eye level to Liam. “ _What_ ” he demanded. “What are you- how did he-”  
“Mason didn’t see it happen,” Liam sighed. “But he was there minute, and the next he was just gone.” Theo could hear the elevated sound of Liam’s heartbeat, and he could smell the worry rolling off him in waves. With another sigh liam slumped onto the step next to Theo.  
“I’m afraid that he’ll have the same reaction to the poison as you,” Liam admitted. Theo looked up, surprised.   
“He probably won’t,” Theo said.  
“How do you know? You’re both chimeras.”

“He’s stronger than I am,” Theo blurted out in a rush, sitting back down next to Liam. They were close enough that their thighs almost brushed together. Liam looked shocked. “What?” he asked slowly. Theo bit his lip and turned to face the dark, empty street.  
“Ever since I- when I came back-” Theo stopped and took a deep breath. He knew that admitting this to Liam was a considerable show of weakness, voluntarily giving up one of his vulnerabilities.  
“My powers are lesser now,” he said quickly. Theo could feel Liam’s gaze on his face, but he ignored the look. “It’s harder to shift, ever since you- since I came back.”  
 _Since you brought me back_.  
“Oh,” Liam said. “That’s why it always seems like you’re in pain when you shift.” Theo turned to look at him when he heard something that might have been guilt in Liam’s voice.   
Which made no sense.  
“Yeah,” Theo said tersely. 

The tension between them was palpable. Eventually Liam put his head in his hands and said, “What if we’re too late again?”  
“Liam,” Theo said. “I already told you this, there’s nothing you can do to-”  
“I know!” Liam shouted, cutting Theo off. “I know that. That’s what makes this so infuriating. The guy my best friend is in love with could be dying this second, completely alone, and we might never know.”  
“Do you know where to look for him?” Theo asked. He could understand Liam’s fear.   
_If it were Liam who had been taken, I would tear the world to pieces to get him back_ , Theo thought desperately.   
“That same tunnel,” Liam said. “When you shoved me into the wall, below the mud there were these weird markings.”  
“Okay,” Theo said. “Let’s go, then.”  
“Right now?” Liam asked. “Are you nocturnal or something?”  
 _No, I just can’t sleep without you there because I have nightmares about my dead sister ripping out my heart_ , was what Theo wanted to say. But he didn’t need any more of Liam’s pity, not after he had seen him so close to breaking down in the science classroom.  
“Right now,” he confirmed.

 

The preserve was dark around them, and even with the light of Liam’s phone, it was impossible to see where the entrance to the underground tunnel was. “I really don’t want to do this again,” Liam said. “If I fall in a hole one more time, I’m moving out of Beacon Hills forever.”  
Theo knew Liam was trying to keep the mood light-hearted, which he appreciated, but the mere thought of Liam leaving made Theo’s stomach turn.   
“I don’t know, falling into holes seems to be one of your specialities,” Theo teased.”   
Liam curled his lip and shoved Theo sideways.  
When he began to fall, Theo didn’t have even a moment to react before he landed in the mud below.  
“I swear this thing is cursed,” Theo growled. Liam snickered as he jumped down beside Theo.   
“Probably,” he said. “The spot should be right up ahead.”  
He hurried ahead, leaving Theo to pull himself upright as he stumbled after Liam. He stopped in front of a handprint on the wall that was evidently Liam’s.

“Do you see those lines?” Liam asked. Theo nodded, and wiped more of the dirt away.  
“Guess we should uncover this whole thing,” Theo said, rolling up his sleeves. Liam glanced at Theo’s forearm, where the faint lines of the weretiger’s claw marks were still visible.   
“Not healed?” Liam shook his head quietly.   
“Guess not,” Theo responded, wiping away more mud from the wall to avoid Liam continuing the subject.  
They worked in silence, continuing to uncover the design that lay underneath the muck. Liam frowned as he looked up at it.  
“It’s like a staff,” Theo said. “Or a scepter of some sort. What even is it?”  
“How would I know?” Liam asked. “Is there anything in the journal?”  
“Nothing about a scepter, with the little information about Amazons that’s actually included,” Theo answered. Their fingertips were both scraped raw from the stone wall, and Theo wiped his bloody fingers on his pants before flipping a page of the book. “We really need more information about these weretigers,” Theo grumbled. Liam nodded his agreement.

Theo brushed his hand against the crudely drawn lines to wipe a last chunk of mud away, and when his skin came into contact with the drawing the lines started to glow.  
“What the hell?” Theo asked. “Did you see that, or am I going crazy?”  
“I saw it too,” Liam said, placing his own hand against the drawing. There was no effect, so Theo put his hand against the staff again, pressing harder. The light flashed brighter, and for a moment the cave walls surrounding them were dark with smoke and mist. Theo could feel some sort of power close by, a force just out of reach, but something he wanted nonetheless.   
Then he blinked, and the moment was gone; his hand was left outstretched toward the wall.

“Um,” Liam said helplessly. Theo’s eyes were flying around the area surrounding them, trying to find where the feeling had come from.  
But there was nothing.  
“Well, this obviously won’t be any help,” Liam said. “We need to keep going and find Corey.”  
There was no evidence of any blue-silver shield, nothing like the one they had come across last time. It made Liam quicken his pace, clearly eager to get to Corey as soon as possible.  
Theo was beginning to hope as well, desperate for any inkling of optimism that they would be able to reach Corey tonight.   
But that hope quickly fled when Theo could see a force-field stretching across the mouth of a cave. 

Liam stopped just before the shield, so close that Theo was afraid he would walk straight through it. His eyes were narrowed, and Theo could see them flash bright yellow. He could barely make out the shape of a moving figure with human eyes, and Liam must have been able to identify more with his wolf’s eyes.   
“It’s Corey,” he confirmed.   
“Is he- is he okay?” Theo asked. Liam gave a half-shrug.   
“He’s alive and breathing,” Liam said.   
“So what are we supposed to do? Sit here and wait? We need to at least try.”  
Try to save Corey, the exact opposite of what Theo has done as his sister froze to death.   
_Regret regret regret_.   
They had to try. 

Theo stepped closer to the barrier with an outstretched hand, knowing it could go badly wrong, but still desperate to try anyway. Liam grabbed his arm and jerked him away.   
“You already called me an idiot for trying,” Liam snapped exasperatedly. “You can’t go off on some self-sacrificing rant for something that won’t even be effective.”  
Theo blinked at him. “Whatever. What ideas do you have, then, Tinker Bell?”  
Liam scowled. “Mason and I were doing research on normal tigers,” he said. “And they’re nocturnal. Which means that they could be weaker and easier to fight in the daylight.”

“You want us to wait until tomorrow to rescue Corey?” Theo asked. “He could be dead by then, Liam.”  
“You didn’t die a day after you were attacked,” Liam said.   
“Assuming he was poisoned. They could be cannibals for all we know, Liam.”  
“Let’s look on the bright side,” he said angrily. “You stop being pessimistic, I stop freaking out about Corey being in danger, and we go back home.”  
Liam’s words made it sound like his home was also Theo’s.   
He wasn’t planning on correcting Liam. 

 

Sunrise was truly too early to wake up after a mostly-sleepless night.   
And yet, there Theo was, practically falling asleep at the wheel as he drove back to the preserve.   
“So,” Liam said. “Do you want to actually tell me what you were doing sneaking around in the tunnels instead of helping us potentially fend off a weretiger?”  
Theo looked at him. “Are you the one hallucinating now?” he asked. Liam mirrored his confused look.   
“What are you talking about? One minute you were standing next to us in your wolf form, then you were waltzing back in as a human.”  
Theo was racking his brains, trying to figure out what exactly Liam was talking about, but he could figure out nothing. 

“I think you’re too tired for this,” he teased, but the joke was feeble with the look Liam was giving him. He looked… afraid.   
“Theo. You don’t remember being in the tunnels?”  
“I remember trapping the weretiger,” he said, feeling uneasy himself. “What was I doing?”  
“You just disappeared,” Liam said, surveying Theo carefully. He was still watching him when they pulled up in the trees and got out of the truck.   
“Theo,” Liam said suddenly, pulling up Theo’s sleeve. “Can you check to see if your blood is still tainted?”  
Theo just stared at him. “Please?” he asked, and Theo flicked his claws out and scratched one across his skin.   
The blood that welled in the cut was almost entirely blue-silver. 

Theo tried to ignore the way his heart was jackhammering in his chest.   
“Why?” Liam said shakily. “Why aren’t you healing?”  
“Maybe I’m dying,” Theo responded.   
He expected a laugh, maybe a glare or Liam rolling his eyes.   
He didn’t expect him to slam Theo against the side of the truck.   
“You’re not dying!” Liam shouted, glaring at Theo. It was more intimidating than he’d like to admit.   
Especially with Liam standing so close.   
“We’ll find a way to fix it, but you can’t just go saying things like that!” Liam yelled. 

“Calm down!” Theo snapped. “It might be true, you know.”  
“It’s not,” Liam said firmly, and moved slightly farther away from him as Mason pulled up in his own car.   
“You had an idea?” Mason asked. Liam nodded.   
“When an Amazon attacked me, my body repelled the poison,” Liam explained. Theo nodded.   
“So I’m going to try to cross that barrier and rescue Corey.”

“No you’re not,” Theo said. “How many times have we talked about this? Anything that crosses the barrier will deteriorate.”  
Liam squared his shoulders as he looked at Theo. “It’s worth the risk,” Liam said.   
“And if this ridiculous plan doesn’t work?” Theo asked, dressing the answer he knew Liam would give.   
“Then I die,” Liam said, forced calm in his voice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I promised this chapter by Wednesday 9 PM EST. And it’s 10:26 PM as I write this. Again, I’m so sorry friends. New update schedule will definitely have to be weekly now... now that it will be weekly though, all new chapters can have assumed publication dates of Wednesday at 9 PM EST (for real this time). That’s a promise I’ll actually keep, and that’s the way things will be unless I let you know otherwise. 
> 
> I know this chapter was way short, only 3K words. It’s rushed and slow and boring so I apologize profusely for that... I need to stop slacking on this project and get it together, I know. 
> 
> Good news, though! The next chapter will be a minimum of 5K words, and will contain a ton of angst. I won’t spoil anything, but there’s also a major plot point coming up that you guys *COUGH* may or may not like... ;)
> 
> No time to add a link, so tumblr is lightworm-scones 07
> 
> Thank you everyone, and I apologize again.


End file.
